When we fall because of sin it is an opportunity to be proactive and evaluate the very Faith walk we had before the fall. It gives us the chance to recognize why, when and how we allowed satan to overcome us. He, satan has one purpose and that is to have our confidence shattered in ourselves and the Word, thereby distorting our image as a conqueror over him and his evil principalities and powers. This strategy for our failure is usually based on our own selfishness, ignorance of the Word and egotistic desires to be independent of God and all the Heavenly support available to us. By accepting God’s wisdom and our limitations helps when we make the decision to get up after we have sinned and fallen from Grace and at times feel ashamed. By not beating up on ourselves and others, we allow God to use our failure for His purpose and our benefit; for with God nothing goes to waste and He uses these “downtime” to adjust, re-establish and streamline our lives to His perfect will for us.
It’s all good with the right perspective when we accept that Grace is available to us and that God will recompense and even increase all that was stolen from us up to seven times – Prob. 6:31. We must push through despite falling from Grace even when it seems nothing is happening. Once we are truly remorseful for our sin and ask God for forgiveness, then He being Faithful to His Word begin the process of getting us back on track. Even as this is taking place, most if not all of the Christians fall again by becoming impatient, frustrated and anxious (all sins) as God adjusts things for our benefit. We can’t expect things to turn around on a dime thinking God is nothing more than a magician or worst a wizard. It took thousands of years, Faith and perseverance by many to bring Jesus in the world in a form that would re-establish our original birthright. We must realize, we equally contribute to our timely turnaround and benefit from our Faith, attitude, and actions. The good news is despite any fall (sin), God can rectify all, whether in a day or a lifetime.
Consider; if God is love and truth, which comes first and can they be separated. God is after our sincerity and is Faithful to forgive when we seek His mercy. Throughout the bible, we find chosen people who lie out of fear and distress, but God used their failures to show Himself strong on their behalf and for His will. – Gen. 20:2, “Abraham said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister”. Abraham did this twice and still became the father of the nations. Even though she was his half-sister who became his wife, he lied out of fear which is the sin. Our circumstances are not good enough reasons to sin and there is no such thing as a half lie. As a Christian, you are not to sin from self-will any longer. This is because we are all responsible for understanding the “legal conditions” of our covenant with God. If we were living under the old covenant, payment for our sins would be exacted immediately which is why the priests had to make sacrifices constantly to God. While in the new covenant, the consequences for our sins are under Grace. This does not mean we abuse this Grace and sin as we like. God is not only Love but He is a judge and His Word is above Him – Ps. 138:2, “you have magnified your word above all your name”. By His forgiveness and will, He has purposefully decided not to recall any of our sins, so that He can see us as we ought to be – Is. 43:25.
We must come to the knowledge and accept wholeheartedly nothing that we have done or fail to do will ever separate us from God’s love and His care for us, - Rom. 8:38-39. God is always aware of the circumstances that caused us to fall but is unable to rectify them when we wallow in self-pity and misery. Job and others show us that if we are true in our remorse for sinning, God is Faithful to not only forgive us but also clean the slate to make us righteous before His throne once again. Consider Job and his sins and you will see we all have committed the same and if it was not for Grace, our lives would have some dire consequences. Some argue that God purposely allowed satan to hurt Job, but it was really the sin of fear that caused his trials - Job 3:25.
To sin has two conditions to occur. First, by consciously sinning (self-willed) or second by unconsciously sinning. If we know what disappoints and separates us from God but still do it, this is consciously sinning. David did this by committing adultery with Beersheba – 2 Sam. 11:4. Unconsciously sinning is when we are aware of it but under duress we do it. In some cases, usually as an act of unselfishness. A good example is in World War 2 many Christians lied to protect the Jews that were being persecuted by their oppressors. This is really an act of love which covers a multitude of sins - 1 Pet. 4:8. Did you know; we sin when we lie to someone because of social norms. For instance, when we say, “the food tasted great” to the host, even though it was not and behind their backs we tell others how bad it was. Now, don’t get me wrong; we ought to have social graces by how we express and chose our words but never at the expense of compromising our integrity and the truth. Some say this is the love walk, so a little lie is acceptable, but true love is being sensitive to the occasion without conflicting God’s commands. You can’t truly love others without loving (preserving yourself from sin) yourself first. God is not insensitive to the reasons why we sin and is just to balance the scales of justice when we will be before Him, but wouldn’t it be better not have to account for all these little lies to Him.
Sin leads to guilt and guilt to shame which leads to lack of Faith in walking in Grace, which hinders us from forgiveness and the Blessing from God. We must consciously not sin so the process of the Blessing continues His plan for each of us. Each time we fail at maintaining our righteous walk, we delay and even divert our blessings from God. Like most men who eventually reach their destination because of refusing to use a map or GPS, they are never on time for the appointment because of wrong turns. In this case the appointment with God’s will for our benefit. A whole generation lost their inheritance because of the sin of doubt and toiled till their death after wandering forty years in the desert – Deut. 1:35. As simple as it sounds, they only had to repent, ask God for forgiveness and all would have turned for their benefit and joy. Consider this, of all that generation, only Joshua and Caleb were only allowed to reach and enjoy the promise land. This only happened because they chose to believe God and His Word.
Just like learning to ride a bicycle, we can only master our walk when we choose to get up after our fall (sin). It is all in our attitude and actions that determine our growth into becoming the true image of Christ in this world. Jesus has told us what to expect and we should use this knowledge to prepare for any attack from the devil. He told us we will face trials, difficulties, and even disasters until He returns for us. When we fall it’s easy to keep our heads down and be ashamed or disappointed seeing the ground (darkness) and wallow in self-pity; but making the decision to look up and see the light and face our sin is the first step to taking back our victory from satan. Every notice looking down on the ground our view is narrow but looking up enhances and enlarges our perspective. There are many reasons why we fail at standing, including family, environment and belief and it is for each individual to make good decisions that will rid them of that baggage. The Victory lies in our thought process and actions that guide us in taking what has been given to us freely by God.
The first thing to recognize is that God has seen it all. There is no sin He is not aware of. It is not a matter of the details of the sin but that it is nothing more than rebellion to His will. That is what sin is. Personal rebellion, opposition to His will, precepts and conditions of His jurisdiction over our lives. This is why in Deut. 28, we are given the “legal document” for our review and acceptance (Blessing) or rejection (curse) of it and is witnessed by Heaven our choice – Deut. 30:19-20. All sins have the same judgment and sentence, even sexual morality resulting in the absence of God in your life.
The second thing is choice. God knows what we face each day and is doing all He can to protect us from having to deal with the consequence of sin. This why it is crucial to constantly abide in the Word. He knows it’s our decision because he gave us that gift and prerogative to choose. This is why Grace is implemented to allow for an evenly controlled and distribution of judgment on His part. Grace softens the impact consequence of the committed sin. It’s like the “get out of jail” free card in monopoly, where no loss is immediate but we lose time and advantage. God knows we need time to learn, apply and to take possession of all that He has made and given us so that eventually our free will lines up with His. At this point, temptation and sin (death) no longer have the ability to affect our walk of Faith.
The third thing is growth. From the moment a human is born, learning is from failure. Sure we can learn so no fall occurs, but it’s usually from someone who has failed first that we learn from their mistakes and in some cases we fall harder because we did not heed the advice given to us. This lesson or advice by itself does not supplant one’s growth from personal failures. It’s been said, “Failing is not the reason we don’t succeed, but not attempting to fail”. In other words, not getting back up after we have fallen or too scared to make a mistake. Growth comes because it gives the opportunity for us to be more resolute in walking righteously (if we choose) and also it reveals satan’s methods of entrapping us, preparing us for the next round of his devices. Without constant personal grow we become stale and retard all the benefits God has for us. We are to be like a tree planted by the rivers of life – Ps. 1:3.
We also must get up out of the things of this world that prevent, delay and distract us, keeping us restrained and continue the renewing our minds despite any sin that has temporarily sidetracked us. No one gets burnt once they recognize and handle fire (sin) with the proper authority and confidence. We do this by becoming discipline in abiding and put into action the Word. We also must measure our physical side and allow the Spirit to rule by dying to this world daily – Rom. 8:13. Some may be concerned that denying any part of the world will place them as outcasts with their friends and even family. This is where the rubber hits the road for many and sin occurs again and again causing them to fall once more from Grace. Our Grace and benefits from God are not reduced or limited because we sinned but because we are wanting best of both worlds; being lukewarm which is an automatic rejection from God – Rev. 3:16.
The prodigal son’s father did not treat him any different because of his sin (squandering) and losing all that he was given. He was treated as if he never left the home with the Grace of his father. This only occurred because the son (daughter) returned sincerely to the father’s love and his kingdom (domain). We fall the more we stay within the world’s (satan’s) domain and is the less God can use His domain for our benefit and desires. We all must endeavor to get up, above and beyond the detrimental effects of sin.
Flush it Out! - Sin is like sludge and the sooner we wash it off, we relieve ourselves of its burden.
May 2, 2016.
GET UP !
Sooner or later because we don’t abide in the Word; we fail at keeping our Faith strong and allow the devil to defeat us and before you know it we have fallen from Grace and our lives go into turmoil. Some of us are so disappointed with ourselves we become angry and transfer this feeling onto others compounding the frustration. How we view these failures determine our personal growth and stand as Christians and Faith in God. Many see this as normal and acceptable but according to the Word, this ought not to be. - Matt. 5:48.