Hi Ladies, I felt it would be appropriate to share with you a message that was given at my beloved church, Maranatha on this snowy Sunday morning. Good ole Pastor Bruce was preaching today. He’s a very friendly family-man who loves sports, people, and God. He also has a candid way about him…after he reads scripture (verse by verse -which I appreciate), he then gives a life metaphor to make it even more relatable.
We laugh, we cry, we pray, we ask God to search our hearts. It’s good stuff.
Today we covered 2 Corinthians 6:17-20:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Then we watched this video:
I wish we could see ourselves through God’s lens.
We were all born into sin, but because he gives those {who believe} a free pass through Jesus, we are as white as the snow currently covering my front lawn. There isn’t anyone who doesn’t look beautiful covered in that blanket of pure grace. But, when we choose to allow our flesh to take over (yes, even as Christians-and I laugh as I write that), it causes us a lot of grief when we are left to deal with earthly consequences….This vicious cycle leaves us with less time to do his work that he has prepared for us to do. Theoretically, we are on the clock-wasting time.
My prayer today is for every living soul reading right now to ask God to search their hearts. We all struggle with sin in our lives. It could be gossip, sexual sin, gluttony, dishonesty, unforgiveness, jealousy, murder… anything. We all fall so very short of his glory, don’t we? My hand is raised. But there is so much freedom in following God’s design for our lives. Living within the walls of His perfect word is comforting and delivering. There are times when I feel like I need to figure my life out…but I can’t. I then go to the word and the answers are always there for me.
Sin isn’t always something we can control. There are times we are effected by the sin’s of others. It’s difficult. It’s not fair. But, just as God has forgiven us, we are to forgive others. God will see us through all of this.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” ~Ephesians 3:20-21
Do you have a testimony to share? Do you have a Before and After picture of yourself? I’d love to hear about it in the comments….
Your post and this video has really touched me. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I was watching the video. You see, I too have been in a vicious cycle of sleeping in on Sunday mornings instead of going to church. I did it this morning….again. You are right……” when we choose to allow our flesh to take over (yes, even as Christians-and I laugh as I write that), it causes us a lot of grief when we are left to deal with earthly consequences….This vicious cycle leaves us with less time to do His work that he has prepared for us to do. Theoretically, we are on the clock-wasting time. ” I have been wasting time on the clock….the clock of life. I am wasting precious time giving in to my fleshy desires of laziness and that leaves less time for me to do God’s work, God’s will. My daughter suffers from my sin too, because when I don’t go to Sunday school and church she doesn’t go either. She started youth group and loves it, but I let my sin get in the way of her relationship with God. My husband went to church this morning. He has to be there extra early every Sunday so we always drive separately. I know he is disappointed again that we did not come to church this morning. I know God is disappointed in me too. Thank you for doing God’s will and posting this. Thank you for opening my eyes.
Praying for you and am so thankful that you read this!!!! xoxoxo!!!! It is so comforting to know that the Holy Spirit convicted you- See, now that is a GOOD thing you can be happy about!!!
Thank you for sharing this beautiful devotional video. I am often disgusted whenever I see myself in a photo or look into a mirror. My husband tells me that I am beautiful all the time and I realize now if he can see me as beautiful, then my mind can’t even comprehend how God sees me. Thank you so much Janelle and blessings! 🙂
Thank you, Janelle.
I am sitting at my desk at work in tears! That video was so timely in my life, and oh the end! Thank you for this!
A few years ago, my husband and I were celebrating the fact that we had quit drinking for 5 years. The holy spirit then convicted me of the fact that we were now addicted to pain killers. I was hearing “well look at you now”. Somehow my husband and I had managed to get addicted to our pain meds we were taking for various reasons. I felt so disappointed in myself as did my husband, but we ended up having an incredible testimony of healing during it all. Tears, healing and a total transformation came out of it. All the glory going to God!
Thank you for sharing that Jamie- I can only imagine how many people you have inspired by sharing that. This is a very fallen world and what you have shared is such a common trap! We all fall so short- to God be the glory. <3