Honeybee's Hive

There are people out there who feel like they don’t deserve to be saved. All they see are the sins they habitually commit. Those thoughts are helped along by Satan’s lies. "How could God love you ?," he snears, "He is perfect; look at you! You cheated on your test this morning, lied to your mom about where you were going after school and then met up with your friends and vandalized the local Christian bookstore. You think God wants someone like you as His child? You really think He’ll forgive you?"  Those words penetrate the mind and heart. They settle in and make a home. Everytime that person sins they sink lower into the pit of lies laid out before them. Satan has accomplished his task.

Satan’s goal is to convince us we are not worthy of God’s forgiveness. He does not want us to accept the free gift of salvation. If he can keep us in the dark, wallowing in self-pity, he has control. Well, this may come as a surprise to some but we aren’t worthy of God’s forgiveness. We don’t deserve to be saved. What we do deserve is eternal condemnation. However, that’s what that line means, "But the beauty of grace is it makes life not fair." It’s not fair that we are able to accept the gift of eternal life. God is showing grace and mercy. Grace, in that He gave us His only Son, even though we are sinners and deserving of death. Grace is giving us something even when we do not deserve it. Mercy means He withheld the punishment we deserve. We now have a choice. We can choose to accept the gift! The sad thing is, many are stuck in Satan’s version of this. He helps people take the fact they are not deserving to heart, but that’s as far as they go. Again, that’s right where he wants you!

A lot of sacrifice must be done on the part of a Christian. If we have become comfortable with our sinful lifestyle, even if we feel convicted, we will cling to it. Thinking of a day without a smoke, or not being able to sleep with your significant other is too much. If you give your life over to God you know you’ll still feel tempted. So, at least now you’re safe. You’re not under God’s "rules" or "regulations" of life. But the truth is: being under your own rules is not a safe place to be. The things outlined in the Bible that we are to abstain from (sex outside of marriage, gay/lesbian relationships, stealing, murder etc.) were not put there for the good of His health. He did not have the Bible written so we would feel condemned and want to flee from Him. He had it written so we would see His love and come to Him. It is easy, even as a Christian, to feel tempted to sin. We see people around us drinking, sleeping around and we wonder why, just for a moment, it’s wrong. It helps me to look at it logically. I’ll apply it to something Satan could easily tempt a married woman with, since I was recently married. God forbids adultery. "Oh, but marriage is just a legal act. It’s bound by some names scrolled in pen across paper, and some spoken words force fed to us by a preacher [or other]." Marriage is meant to be safe place. God knows how we work. He created us after all. We have a deep desire to love and to be loved. It’s a frequent notion in our society (check out The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman). There are a lot of people who have experienced the repercussions of an affair. The relationship they knew they could count on was now either shattered or hanging by a thread. The spouse who remained faithful is heartbroken. His/Her life is completely turned upside down. Intimacy is a strong feelingand something in a marriage that is nurtured. You can’t be intimate with every guy or girl you meet that happens to be attractive to you. You being to spread yourself thin. I like a description I read in Every Young Womans Battle by Shannon Ethridge and Stephen Arterburn. This book is about how we can abstain from sex outside of marriage and why we should. The authors shared an analogy of a sticky piece of tape. A piece of tape is at its best when it has been placed for the first time. However, if we remove the tape and try to stick it down again its harder to make it stick. The more times we remove the tape and try to press it down, it grows more difficult. This is how it is when we sleep around. It grows to be a challenge to hold onto a relationship. Sometimes the relationships are just about sex. It is fullfilling at the moment, but what happens when he/she is no longer interested. You just gave that person a part of yourself. You’re pealed off and you leave behind a trace of your stickiness and take with you a piece of him/her. How much of you is there to give out? That’s why marriage is important. God tells us to remain faithful and meet each other’s physical needs, or else they’ll try to satisfy them elsewhere. We have one person we can count on physically but also emotionally. You’re safe. One person has that part of you. Logic.

  Do not be deceived into thinking you are worth Jesus dying on the cross but likewise do not be deceived into thinking that because we are unworthy we cannot accept it. Sadly, we are sinful and God knows this. He doesn’t condone our sins but He does offer forgiveness, even after we have accepted His gift. You will still stumble as a Christian and sometimes the temptations you never thought you would face will knock at your door. You may answer it a few times before you are able to shut the door on it for good, but from experience it is much easier knowing you have God on your side. He fights with us. So you have the choice. You can live in sin, apart from Him or you can be forgiven of your sins and live for Him.

^"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:22-24)