It must be because Easter is coming, I find myself thinking alot about Jesus and how he faced every temptation and resisted. Not once did he give in. As a beleiver I'm suppose to resemble Jesus, I have moments but I assure you that if your eternal life and cleansing from sin depended on me, well...let me just say that you'd be hotter than my BFF Lucie who's soaking up the sun in Palm Springs. I'm really sorry about that truth but so grateful for Jesus.
Todays Question: "Can you imagine how difficult and how satisfying it must have been to face every temptation and overcome?"
I can't and I can. When I gain control over chocolates almonds it's empowering...when I surrender to them it is so physically gratifying...didn't see that coming did you? That is my point this morning and it's why I'm so in awe of all that God did for us through Jesus. I wish I could tell you that I'm saddened by every sin I commit, I'm obviously not or I wouldn't have over fifty pounds to lose. Let's be honest, if sin didn't feel good nobody would be doing it. Just stating the facts. Who doesn't like to dive into their favorite snack and just get lost in it? I don't feel remorse until I see the scale rise or I feel sick. It's pitiful isn't it?
I tell you this story not to glorify the things I've done wrong but to make a point. When I was a teenager our family moved from Edson, AB...small town...to Kamloops, BC...big city. I was 12 going on 13. I'd left two very good friends and the first summer after we got settled they came to visit. I was so excited when my mom drove us downtown to go shopping at the mall. It gets better...she dropped us off. Such freedom at 13. We started looking in stores and then we headed into Sears. My friends were in the change room trying on everything and anything they liked. Normal right? Then one of the two, I can't remember which, told me, after I asked how they were going to pay for all the stuff they wanted said, "We steal it." I was shocked. I'd never stolen anything more than food. Okay every kid sneaks a cookies here and there...no judgements please. My blood pressure rose, my face turned beet red and my heart started to pound, I was like, "You what?" Yep, they said stealing is easy, we'll show you, and so they did. They took things for me but I don't clearly remember taking anything, I'm sure I did I just can't remember...call it a fear blur. I do remember to this day feeling afraid and ashamed. When we got home and the loot was all over my bedroom I was happy with all the stuff they got me. It seemed so easy. They had no sense of guilt or shame, they were just excited about all the new stuff they got, if mom asked me where it came from, they bought it for me, if their parents asked them, I bought it for them. The criminal mind is brilliant. That begin a thankfully short journey of thinking it was okay to steal. I never mastered being able to walk into a store and take stuff. I did try to steal a pair of earings from K-Mart sometime after that, saw the security guard watching me and took them anyway. I got caught, my older sister worked there so they let me go. It was a very important moment on several levels. I seemed to want to get caught, wanted to be punished for my sin. Somewhere deep inside I knew it was wrong, I knew I deserved to be punished and was okay with it. I put the wheels in motion for my punishment and not once but twice never got what I deserved. Only as I write am I seeing how clearly God's hand was in this. K-Mart didn't charge me and my Dad didn't punish me. I had hand picked the stick I thought he should use to beat me. I told him what I did and handed him the stick. He took it, put it down and sent me to my room. We never talked about it again until I was much older. The look on his face was punishment enough.
God is so much more merciful than we can imagine, He goes so far ahead of us in our lives to prepare our way that it baffles me, and sometimes it takes me years to figure all the things He has done for me. Today I realize that God spared me from the punishment I deserved 30 plus years ago and Jesus is still sparing me today. I think that because someone else taught me to steal God protected me. I've noticed in these 51 years of living that when I make the choice to sin myself the consequences follow. In so many different forms. Overindulgence has proven this theory, well that and a scale. :)
I'm so glad that all the things I've done in my past have been forgiven. So glad that Jesus stayed on that cross and resisted every temptation to sin. And the most amazing part...He did it for me, someone so undeserving of such abundant grace. Someone so rotten on so many levels, who deserved so much worse and got so much more. I can't tell you why God loves me so much when He knows me like no one else, I can tell you...He feels the same way about you. Amazing isn't it!
I proclaim to you today that I love Jesus Christ will all my heart, soul, mind body and strength and I will until the day I die. No one has ever loved me like He has and no one has ever shown me how to love the unlovely like He has. I serve a remarkably forgiving Savior who gives me hope for my struggles in this life and then victory over them all in the next.
My Prayer: Lord please teach us to resist temptations and overcome by the power of your Holy Spirit who is always willing and working to strengthen us.
Be blessed with a Wonderful Day.
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