Life’s Like This — All too often in our Christian walk, we lose sight of what it means to be in Christ. I am not speaking of the stumbles in life that are part of the Christian journey all of us are certain to encounter, but rather the blatant and willful acts of sin that can cause us to lose face, not only with ourselves, but with God. In China, as in other cultures, losing face can mean that one has lost his dignity, social standing, honor, and trustworthiness with someone that may have once held them in high esteem. In a spiritual sense, when we engage in blatant and willful sins, sins that we know go against God’s Word, we can find ourselves in a quagmire of self-deception where we think that there is nothing we can do that can cause us to lose face with God. But when we adopt that mindset, when we let ourselves get caught up in blatant sins, we can then become so enamored by those sins that we find it extremely difficult to abandon them. It’s not that we don’t know right from wrong, but rather that we choose to engage in willful disobedience to the laws of God and His purpose and direction for our lives. Freeing ourselves from the clutches of sin — finding the will, the courage, and the moral fortitude to break the hold of sin over our lives then becomes a spiritual struggle that we sometimes feel we must do on our own because we think we have lost face with God.
Fortunately, we have a God that loves us so much, that He has given us the gift of grace and forgiveness through His Son, Jesus Christ. It is a precious gift that we often take for-granted; but make no mistake about it, it is one that carries with it an awesome responsibility to live out our lives in a manner that reflects Godly virtues. When we find ourselves giving into sin, when we forsake Godly principles to entertain the seductive power of sin in our lives, we can find ourselves caught up in a force of evil that can forever alter our future. The taste of forbidden fruit can be so tempting that finding the strength and courage to break its hold may, for some, be insurmountable. And for those that rely on their own devices, who think they can indulge in sinful behavior and later find a way out of the quagmire of sin they are embedded in, they can find themselves lost and stuck in a pit of shame and hopelessness.
Sometimes we have to hit rock-bottom. Sometimes we have to experience the depths of fear and hopelessness before we wake up and see the goodness and truth of God’s Word and the hope and spiritual renewal it can bring to our lives. We don’t have to be bound to a spirit of self-deception that cripples our lives and that keeps us from enjoying triumph over whatever sin that is keeping us from truly being in Christ. We can be victorious over sin. But we need to realize that we cannot do it on our own. We need to draw our strength and power from the Holy Spirit. We need to come before God in a genuine spirit of contrition, seeking God’s forgiveness and the strength to live our lives for Him. We need to abandon our fears and remove ourselves from the bondage of shame that holds us captive to whatever sin has taken root in our lives. We need to know that our God is a loving and forgiving Father that is always there to comfort and guide us through whatever adversity in life we find before us. We may lose face with ourselves and others, but in God’s eyes, we are a precious and loving creation of His that He will never forsake. We may live a life so full of sin that we may wonder how anyone can love us, but God will always remain faithful to His Word. His love is complete and it is all that we need to meet the struggles of life and to conquer the sins that have pervaded our lives. When we look to Him for the answers, when we give up the notion that we can conquer sin on our own, only then will we find the source of strength and courage to break the shackles of sin and win the battle of spritual warfare that we all must face.
Life's Like This 