Stop Pretending

A Summary on Sunday's preachingStop PretendingWhen we were little kids we loved pretending. We pretended to be Superman, Spider Man or any other superhero. We live our lives pretending to be someone else and that was entertaining. People that celebrate Halloween love it because for that day they are able to “pretend” to be someone they are not. But sometimes we continue living our lives pretending.; specifically with our struggle towards sin. We hope people don’t notice and we try to continue in a game of “pretending”. We feel uncomfortable is anyone asks us of how we are doing spiritually, because we rather stay “pretending” and live our lives with a “little” sin. I mean come on, no one is perfect! But you know what? God doesn’t want us to continue living that way. I always wondered if there would be a time when I could say “Wow Lord, I DON’T struggle with sin anymore”, and when I asked my pastor about that, then I realized that there isn’t. Our struggle with sin will be on going until the day we die. Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 speaks about a “thorn” which he asked God to take away but God didn’t. Jesus responded "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." It is in our weakness that God takes over and He pulls us through. And we are able to overcome relying on him.This week the Lord ministered to me with the song from Casting Crowns called “Slow Fade.” (the video is available in youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-8SYA6rfbs)
The song says, “It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away, It’s a slow fade when black and white and turned to gray, People never crumble in a day.”
The lead singer Mark Hall in another video (also available in youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9JgrJjyNzg) explains the song and gives a new meaning to a biblical passage I was very familiar with, Psalms 1: 1Psalms 1:11 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.In this passage he makes the point of a progression when it comes to sinning. First, walking in the counsel, then standing in the way and then sitting in the seat. A sin is never committed right a way. A husband never means to cheat on their wives, a young Christian couples never plans to engage in sexual relations before marriage. The thought (or counsel) always comes to us. An image, a word, an invitation always comes first. Probably something that looks so “harmless” that we allow it in our minds and into our home. It is that harmless thing that we then allow to stay with us until we finally just sit in the seat of the sin, and we act upon it. And it is as at that very moment that you wonder how you got there. At that moment you wonder, how could you possibly done something like that. Probably the same question King David had when he had committed adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). You know, it is up to us to revert the process. We must get up from the chair, then walk away from the sin and stop walking in the counsel of sinners. If you could identify when the cycle starts your end might be really different. Galatians 6: 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” The Lord is righteous and just to forgive you if you repent. But don’t forget is a slow fade, people never crumble in one day. You don’t have to be a slave to sin anymore; but come in humbleness and the Lord will do. He will never reject a humble heart (Psalms 51: 17). But remember giving yourself away to a harmless thing today could make you pay a high price tomorrow.