(no subject)
I was thinking before I fell asleep (a lot, actually, and it kept me up till around 1am), and I tried to keep my thoughts focused on God so that they wouldn't stray on to things I don't want to be thinking about (I've been struggling with bouncing my thoughts away from lustful images). I think I came up with a neat quote but I don't know if its easy to understand:
"Are you choosing Jesus because you know you're a sinner or are you sinning because you know you can choose Jesus?"
Get it? I'm kind of saying... are you aware of your sin and accept Jesus because you know you need Him to cleanse you of your sin and help you to repent, or are you conciously making bad choices, sinning, with the justification that you'll simply ask for forgiveness later like its no big deal. I was just thinking of that sort of thing last nite. And I realized that although I (in my own opinion) fall moreso into the former, I sometimes find myself in the latter, believing the lie that says I'm allowed to sin, I can't not sin, that its okay to sin because I can just ask for forgiveness. But its not okay to sin, its never okay. And I can not sin, because the Bible says that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. I am weak, yes, and alone I can't withstand temptation, but God says that His power is made perfect in my weakness, and that He is always with me. I also thought about how I should have more fear of the consequences of sin. Like what if Jesus returns while I'm not making good choices? Like when I'm right smack in the middle of a sin. What if that leaves me left behind? So, I guess what I'm saying is, I should be totally repudiating towards sin, like its the most vile disgusting thing ever (which it is), and I should not take for granted Christ's work on the cross. I should be like "holy crap THANK GOD!!" everytime I think about it, which should be often. I pray that the mystery of His love never gets old for me. I pictured in my mind sin as spiders. I hate spiders, they really freak me out. I pictured spiders crawling all over me and all around me, spiders everywhere, biting me. I imagined trying to jump in the shower to wash them off myself but there were still spiders on me. Then Jesus comes and all the spiders leave me and crawl over Him and I watch Him suffering as they bite Him and then He dies from all the spider poison. He falls to the ground and the spiders disappear, and then He opens His eyes, and gets up. And I am so happy.
"Are you choosing Jesus because you know you're a sinner or are you sinning because you know you can choose Jesus?"
Get it? I'm kind of saying... are you aware of your sin and accept Jesus because you know you need Him to cleanse you of your sin and help you to repent, or are you conciously making bad choices, sinning, with the justification that you'll simply ask for forgiveness later like its no big deal. I was just thinking of that sort of thing last nite. And I realized that although I (in my own opinion) fall moreso into the former, I sometimes find myself in the latter, believing the lie that says I'm allowed to sin, I can't not sin, that its okay to sin because I can just ask for forgiveness. But its not okay to sin, its never okay. And I can not sin, because the Bible says that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. I am weak, yes, and alone I can't withstand temptation, but God says that His power is made perfect in my weakness, and that He is always with me. I also thought about how I should have more fear of the consequences of sin. Like what if Jesus returns while I'm not making good choices? Like when I'm right smack in the middle of a sin. What if that leaves me left behind? So, I guess what I'm saying is, I should be totally repudiating towards sin, like its the most vile disgusting thing ever (which it is), and I should not take for granted Christ's work on the cross. I should be like "holy crap THANK GOD!!" everytime I think about it, which should be often. I pray that the mystery of His love never gets old for me. I pictured in my mind sin as spiders. I hate spiders, they really freak me out. I pictured spiders crawling all over me and all around me, spiders everywhere, biting me. I imagined trying to jump in the shower to wash them off myself but there were still spiders on me. Then Jesus comes and all the spiders leave me and crawl over Him and I watch Him suffering as they bite Him and then He dies from all the spider poison. He falls to the ground and the spiders disappear, and then He opens His eyes, and gets up. And I am so happy.