TRANSFORMING TUESDAY: God's Arm Is Always Out Stretched For Us To Hold

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE TO ALL!!! REMEMBER JESUS IS ALWAYS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

Have you ever been so caught up in sin? Sin isn't limited to just a few things. Sin encompasses so much! Today's reading in Isaiah 59 spoke directly to my heart because it was something that I was struggling with. This past week I finished up yet another semester in law school (GO ME!!!) and so I had a few events planned so that I could celebrate.

The day following the end of my exams, I went to a concert to celebrate. The concert was great and I enjoyed myself. The day after the concert I was invited to celebrate a close friend's birthday. Initially I was sooooo excited about celebrating because I figured it would be a dinner party, but to my surprise it wasn't. The celebration was to be held at a club and for all of you who do not know, I have not set foot into a club since maybe May 2012. Personally, preparing for the celebration aroused a lot of anxiety inside of me. I know that my decision to no longer party was a personal decision -- not because I thought it was necessarily a sin, but because I felt it did not benefit my life because so many things came with it. I did not want to attend the celebration because I felt like I would be erasing all of the progress that I had with my walk with God by going. It was a struggle to go but in the end I realized that by attending, it strengthened my relationship with God.

While at the club for my friend's birthday, I realized that the club was exactly the way that I left it over a year ago. Everything was still the same -- the music was there, the drinks were there, the people were there, and the same behavior was there. In that moment I knew that by attending, that my feelings of "missing out" were slowly leaving me. That's the thing with sin…when we refrain from sin we often times feel as though we are missing out on something great. The truth is, when we actually sin that's when we're really missing out! We miss out on growing closer to God and we miss out on what could have been our blessings. What I realized over the weekend was that by me "clubbing" (although it isn't necessarily a sin, for me it was an activity that I no longer wanted to involve myself in) it would have been the same as you or I lying. The Bible tells us that no sin is greater than the other (James 2:10). It is society who places these different degrees of offenses on the law.

As the night when on I realized that I no longer had a desire to be there although I was extremely happy to see everyone. At one point my friend leaned over to ask if I felt "convicted" for being there. After careful thought and consideration I realized that I wasn't convicted at all; I felt closer to God in that moment than I had prior to going to the club. I even received numerous text messages while in the club stating, "Church girl is in the club?" Ironically enough I didn't take offense to any of the messages at all. I thought they were actually thought that they were clever -- as long as people knew that I was a "church girl" they couldn't question my love for Christ. I knew I had initially stopped clubbing for a reason and because I attended that event I knew in my heart God had me right where he wanted me. See the issue is, as people we get so consumed with what people will think of us instead of focusing on our own salvations with Christ. My walk is not your walk and your walk is not my walk. MY walk with Christ is MY walk with Christ and YOUR walk with Christ is YOUR walk with Christ. None of them have to be explained as long as God knows that's it. I was so concerned with what people would say if they saw me that I almost missed out on my lesson: "You truly miss out when you are sinning. However, God's arm is never too remote for you to reach after you have sinned."

The Bible states, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; Nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear" (Isaiah 59:1). That just goes to show that God is always there and ready to stretch his arm out when we need to be saved from sin. And when we need to be heard because we are asking for forgiveness, he too hears us. So don't get so consumed with the degrees of sins because they are weighted equally in the eyes of God. And remember that when you are tempted to sin, the only time you'll be missing out is when you're actually sinning.

Prayer:
Dear Lord we come before you to thank you for all of your blessings in our lives and for constantly keeping your arm stretched out long enough enough for us to grab. We pray that you continue to keep us in your grace at all times and that you stray us away from temptation. We ask that you remind us that the only thing we are missing out on when we are sinning is your love and your blessings. Thank you for always being there and for always listening. Keep us focused on you and lastly, we ask that you solidify our individual walks with YOU. Thank you for everything and we love you. Amen. 


IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO TRANSFORM YOUR TUESDAY :)
TRANSFORMING TUESDAY: JAMERA