Hello everyone! It's the revival of I Thought It Was Just Me Wednesdays. Today, I want to feature a scripture that I've read several times and never really thought much of. Based on recent prayers and events, I wanted to explore it in a blog entry.
Mark 5:30 - And if your hand - even your stronger hand - causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown in hell.
Now, as a teenager and even in my early 20s, I thought it was ridiculous to cut off your hand or any part of your body because you were doing the wrong thing. If I cut off my hand for sins, then how could I work or blog or eat hot wings? But I was thinking too literal about the verse. This verse really wants you to explore your everyday patterns and see what in them is making you not be the man/woman of God you need to be. What is causing you not to have your full armor of God on and simply sin.
Although I don't want to cut off any parts of my body, I know several ways that I sin using four parts of my body.
Eyes - I've used my eyes for lust as the previous verse mentions, but not just in the area of sex. I've felt lust over other people's dreams or careers, possessions, and love lives. As mentioned in other blogs, I struggle with single woman's lust, especially since my past dictates that I am no angel in the sex area. Once you've sampled and bitten that apple, it's hard not to think of it, but I know from talking to virgins that sometimes they feel they have it worse.
Hands - Being anxious and impatient and doing things unauthorized by God. Also, using my hands to type harsh words or gossip about others.
Mouth - OMG! This one could take all day! I'll sum it up by admitting to not thinking before I speak and saying my first thoughts without thinking of the consequences. This has resulted in saying "sorry" or "my bad" on more occasions than I'd like to admit.
Legs - Knowing the right thing to do and choosing the wrong thing. Your legs always know when you are going to do something bad. It's like for those few moments they take over as your brain and before you know it you're hopping into bed with men or going to the burger place instead of the gym and you're shaking your head later like fool.
What can I do (or you do) about the things that cause us to sin? Literally chopping off my body parts is not an option (sorry New Testament, but I think there is a better way). One thing you can do is clear your path and cut activities or temptations that will cause you to sin. One thing I had to check myself on recently is the amount of R-Rated shows and movies that I watch. Sure, some of these shows and movies are great entertainment, but for myself, I know exposing myself in large amounts is not good. So I hope to decrease the R-Rated viewing this year - not get rid of entirely because baby steps are necessary.
As Christians, one of the best things you can do is pray about the areas of sin. Joyce Meyers recommends that your bible reading and study should focus on what you struggle with. If you find numerous areas of sin like myself, then just pick one and focus on that for a month or so. Praying is a wonderful thing. The best part about prayer to me is closing my eyes. For years I thought it didn't count unless I closed my eyes. There's something about closing my eyes that helps me regroup and focus. It helps when dealing with sin to close your eyes for a moment and really think about why this sin exists in your life. It could be genetic. It could be a stronghold you've had for years. It could be something you saw someone else do, it looked cool, and now not only is it not cool, but it's destroying your life so much so that maybe you thought about cutting off your hand.
The next time you pray, close your eyes, but before you start praying, think about how God sees you and your life. He thinks your wonderful and way better than the sin that's in your life. He thinks your an overcomer and the head and not the tail. Once you have God's thoughts in your head, begin to pray about them and about your area of struggle and be honest. Sometimes I didn't know what God thought of me, especially in times of sin. But when I took the sin out of the equation and thought of God first, I discovered all of the wonderful things he thought about me and it made it easier to pray to him because let's face it. When you're in sin, you don't want to go to him, but in reality, he should be the first person you call.
I hope this post helped you think about your own areas of sin. I think that God wants more of us and he realizes that before we can do more, we need to think more of ourselves.
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{applause} Amen! Yo, if you are gonna bring it like this, you need to take more breaks in between Wednesdays lol! Very refreshing and honest and hits home.
ReplyDeleteYou are on point but what I am applauding more so is that you are taking action and I hope to hear how that goes. I'll admit that I could do with less R-Rated media. Think about it. If you were born or grew up in the beginning of the video game/internet/pc era, you have been subjected to mass amounts of sex and violence that wears and beats down on our moral fiber to the point that we're desensitized.
I think it is very appropriate and with Lent approaching in the coming months, I will challenge myself 'cause I expose myself to way too much R stuff.
I have more to say about the other things you've mentioned but I'll leave that for the rest of your audience to speak on. Thanks!
Sin!!! I haven't heard that word in awhile. Thank God for forgiveness!
ReplyDeleteI needed to read this. I had to re-establish my connection with God recently - especially with all the things I was going through. Im trying day by day to eliminate alot of sins that i was doing. Good writing Jennie !
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