Losing Face With God

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.

Rising Above Our Sin

Life’s Like This — Someone that has truly stood face to face with God in their heart and their spirit, will find it very hard, very nearly impossible, to turn back from that revelation of Him in their life. They may suffer setbacks; they will fail in certain areas of their life; different things can creep in and dilute life at times, and their may be certain times of wavering. But if you look back over a long span of time, you’ll find them always progressing. Somewhere in their heart and in their life they are growing and they are even learning from their failures. I remember as a child, about the age of eight, that I first came to know about Jesus. I did not have an epiphany, as some people do, but through Sunday School lessons, and my mother’s faith, I came to know Christ and the gift of salvation that He gave, not only to me, but to all of mankind. It was a gift that I had accepted by asking Jesus to come into my heart, to forgive my sins, and to help me live my life for Him. But if truth be told, I did not fully understand and appreciate, at that young age, the magnitude of suffering that Christ paid on the cross for my sins. I did not, at that age, even comprehend the significance of sin in my life and the hold it will have on my behavior and the consequences that would follow me all through my life as a result of living a life riddled with sin.

The Bondage of Emotional Pain

Life’s Like This — There are moments, I believe, in most of our lives, where the joy of living is overcome with depression, anxiety, and the fear of stepping outside one’s comfort zone to experience the best that life can offer. Moments in life, where it can be difficult to escape the bondage of emotional pain because we are fearful of letting others get close to us, where we can trust them with our feelings, and where we can let them get to know us to a point where a bridge of understanding can be built and relationships can flourish. Quite often, emotional pain is hidden, deep in a closet of darkness, and tucked away in seclusion where it can languish in solitude. But for others, their emotional pain is quite evident; they seem to carry the wounds of their heart on their sleeves where it is apparent to all that know them. For those of us caught up in a web of emotional pain, we often ask ourselves, when will it all end? Why, despite all the counseling we may have gone through, does the pain still persist? And why must we be held hostage to this pain from which there seems to be no escape?

Sharing Our Faith

Life’s Like This — In an ideal environment, all our relationships would draw us closer to the Lord. However, we live in a fallen world with sinful people. God wants us to influence those who aren’t walking obediently with Him, but unless we’re careful, we could easily end up following them. Being a faithful Christian is a challenge for even the most devoted man or woman of God. But for those of us that are weak in our faith, who lack the spiritual countenance to weather the storms of life, our faith and witness to others can be sorely tested and we can easily find ourselves following the footsteps of those that have not yet come to know Christ. As much as we may want to reflect Christ-like behavior and attitudes toward others, unless we take on the armor of God to shield us from the sinfulness of the world, we will fail in our Christian walk and our ability to influence those that God calls us to lead to Him.

Wall of Shame

Life’s Like This — Quite often, God will give us opportunities to demonstrate the things we have learned. Hopefully, we are good students of life and learn our lessons well. But in reality, each of us have our unique learning curve, and because of that we may require extra coaching in some areas of life. I find this especially true in matters of faith and how we live out our Christian lives. As Christians we are called to reflect the life and ministry of Jesus Christ — a tough act to follow. If it was meant to be easy, then there would have been no need for Christ to die on the cross for our sins, because prior to His crucifixion, just as it is today, mankind was caught up in willful disobedience and constantly turned to the pursuit of self-interests rather than the fulfillment of God’s Word. God does not expect us to be perfect in any of our endeavors, but He desires us to have a heart in pursuit of Christ-like behavior and thoughts so that we can be brought into closer harmony with His will and purpose for our lives. It would be so much easier for us to live Christ-like lives if when we went through a spiritual transformation that left our new-found faith and love for God so deeply embedded in us that nothing could separate us from His will. As much as we may want to be faithful in our walk with Christ, the nature of sin and its constant tug will always be present and seeking to undermine our relationship with Christ.

The Christian Family

Life’s Like This — We all need relationships that stimulate and challenge us to become the people God wants us to be. God did not mean for us to go through this journey of life alone. He wants us to have relationships with each other that are loving, supportive, and fulfilling. Finding the right people to enjoy a Godly relationship with is critical for our spiritual growth. For some of us, we like to wing it by ourselves, hoping that our relationship with God can be strengthened without any interaction with our fellow man. But that was not God’s plan — God did not mean for us to be alone; He created us with the intention to have fellowship with each other; to have relationships that will nurture friendship and bring us in closer harmony with God’s will for our lives. Once we recognize the need for Godly people in our lives, we can then continue our christian journey with renewed zeal and hope for happiness that is founded on God’s Word and our relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ.

God's Precious Gift

Life’s Like This — With all the blessings we can receive from God, the blessing of forgiveness is perhaps the most precious gift of all. It would be quite difficult to go through life and not be offended or hurt by someone; It may be a stranger, co-worker, friend, or even a family member that causes you distress and feelings of animosity. Whatever the source of pain, the act of forgiveness can free us and allow us to go forward at peace with ourselves and at peace with the one that caused the offense. A story of profound forgiveness was beautifully portrayed in the film, “OctoberBaby” in which a young woman was faced with choices after learning, not only that she was adopted, but that she was almost never born because of a failed abortion attempt. As a result of the failed abortion, she had to cope with numerous health conditions that made life difficult for her. But upon learning the reason for her health problems was directly related to the failed abortion, this young woman set out on a mission to find her birth mother and to try to understand why she was not wanted by her. Along her journey of discovery, she comes to understand how she could finally be free of her anguish by extending the simple act of forgiveness.

 

The Gift of Christ

Life’s Like This — There is no obstacle in life, predictable or unpredictable, that can’t be conquered with a spirit of hope and determination. We all go through life hoping that it will be filled with experiences that have the least amount of adversity and disappointments. Unfortunately, life will always present you with your share of adversity — it’s inevitable– but what is not inevitable is how we face the adversity we are confronted with. Finding boundless joy and happiness in life is something we all long for and that we should strive for, but when circumstances arise that create situations that are unpleasant and difficult to deal with, we are faced with the choice to either rise above the situation and conquer it, find some middle ground to cope with the situation, or give up in defeat and allow ourselves to succumb to it in despair. For many of us, the easy road is to give up, to throw in the towel, to sweep it under the carpet, to rid ourselves of the problem by walking away from it and pretending that it no longer exists. In reality, problems are never solved by walking away from them and pretending that they magically disappeared. The presence of sin in our lives is one of those problems that encompass so many of the short-comings and failures that we must confront in life. We then need to decide if we are going to be victors over the sin, or allow it to rule our behavior and lead us down a path that can further separate us from God.

Smiles From Heaven

Life’s Like This — Anyone can make you smile or cry, but it takes someone special to make you smile when you already have tears in your eyes; my mother was one of those people. It’s been a year now since my mother passed away. During that time I have discovered that while her physical body is no longer on this earth, she is still very much in my heart and mind. Her presence in my life is so real, that on days when I have something troubling me, I find myself saying “I need to call mom” but quickly remember that she is now in heaven, enjoying a new life with Jesus. But despite her absence, I know that she is smiling down upon me with the same impish eyes she had when her physical body was here. Memories of her are intricately entwined in my life and will never be forgotten. Despite the hardships my mother endured on this earth, she was always there to love and comfort me and the rest of our family with grace, humility, and spiritual wisdom — she was truly the heart of our family.

Planting Seeds For Christ

Life’s Like This — Never underestimate what the Lord is doing in your life. You may not think it’s important, but it is. What you say to people, how you treat others, the way you handle adversity — God uses these things to reveal himself to the world. When you stand for righteousness and refuse to compromise, you are bearing a witness for Him. [Source: Charles Stanley] — Living your life for Christ is a challenge beyond all challenges. It entails a devotion to reflecting Christ-like behavior, actions, and thoughts in every area of your life. If doing this sounds like an impossible task, it’s because it is. This is the dilemma all christians face in their walk with Christ. While we may have a faith that is unshakable, the realities of life, coupled with our sinful nature, cause us to fall short in our efforts to reflect the life of Christ. We owe our failures to sin that we have allowed to take root and infect the way we think, the way we respond, and the way we act toward ourselves and others. For many of us, we may have doubts that we can ever be used by God — we may think that we are such failures that there is no way that God can find anything redeeming in us that can be used to serve Him. Yet, despite our short-comings, God can use us just the way we are to reveal Himself to others. We just need to allow Him to come into our hearts so that we can be molded into a character that reflects His love for all of us.