"She will give birth to a son, and you will give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins!" Matthew 1:21 I wonder if we would get more excited about this if we realized what our sin was really doing to our lives? Would we like it better if it said, "She will give birth to a son, and you will give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from the consequences of their sins"? I think the answer to the second question is absolutely yes! I would be much happier if I could do whatever I want and God would just smooth over any consequences and unpleasant results of my actions.
Too bad life doesn’t work that way.
The thing that I am finding out as a diabetic is that there are direct consequences to the choices we make. I love blueberry pie, and when I eat it it drives my blood sugar toward the heavens. But, I also found that if I take my Canadian wilderness canoe trip and take my blood test within a few days of arriving home that that activity drives my blood sugar results way down. So for the past few years I have used this tactic to beat the test. The only problem is that while the doctor thinks I’m doing great, I am not beating my diabetes. What I’m learning is that beating the test doesn’t solve the problem of controlling my disease. I think that is what we do with our sins. I want to convince people that I have everything under control when I’m really running headlong into the valley of destruction.
Everyone my think we have our addictions under control, when in reality, my addictions are controlling me. We may get our spouses to believe we are faithful, when we may well be driving our families into separation and pain.
We need to see that it’s our sins and bad habits that are the real problem rather than beating the test. The test isn’t destroying my life, my addictive sins are. Once I acknowledge that, I can begin to heal. Jesus came to take away our sins! Once we accept that and walk in His ways, then we truly eventually remove the consequences and live in truth as a healing person. When we just live to pass the test and fool those around us, eventually the truth will surface and the consequences will be revealed. Maybe it’s time to get excited about our sins being taken away, that we might truly be healed.
Too bad life doesn’t work that way.
The thing that I am finding out as a diabetic is that there are direct consequences to the choices we make. I love blueberry pie, and when I eat it it drives my blood sugar toward the heavens. But, I also found that if I take my Canadian wilderness canoe trip and take my blood test within a few days of arriving home that that activity drives my blood sugar results way down. So for the past few years I have used this tactic to beat the test. The only problem is that while the doctor thinks I’m doing great, I am not beating my diabetes. What I’m learning is that beating the test doesn’t solve the problem of controlling my disease. I think that is what we do with our sins. I want to convince people that I have everything under control when I’m really running headlong into the valley of destruction.
Everyone my think we have our addictions under control, when in reality, my addictions are controlling me. We may get our spouses to believe we are faithful, when we may well be driving our families into separation and pain.
We need to see that it’s our sins and bad habits that are the real problem rather than beating the test. The test isn’t destroying my life, my addictive sins are. Once I acknowledge that, I can begin to heal. Jesus came to take away our sins! Once we accept that and walk in His ways, then we truly eventually remove the consequences and live in truth as a healing person. When we just live to pass the test and fool those around us, eventually the truth will surface and the consequences will be revealed. Maybe it’s time to get excited about our sins being taken away, that we might truly be healed.