It has occurred to me today that I haven't had anything too profound to say lately....gone are the days of my rants? I still get quite angered by people, manipulative people, selfish people, lately it's been these people in particular, but I just can't seem to summon the same kind of steam in order to verbally tear them apart anymore.
I have our associate Pastors, and of course God : ) to thank for that. The last few weeks of messages have really stuck with me and sunk deep in my heart, specifically the idea that sin is a symptom of the absence of God. Not a complete absence always, sometimes just a slight lapse in His presence, but choosing to sin gets easier the more disconnected from God we are. So I see people who think, act and speak things that are awful and easy to hate, but God is quick to remind me it is only because they are disconnected from Him (even though some may falsely believe they are doing God's will), and that I too have the potential to be just as bad or worse if I allow a disconnection from God in my own life. That truth has truly changed me.
I'm still just as disturbed by the evil people are capable of and I am still just as opinionated about it, but I realize now I have no right to place blame on or judge any other person other than myself. I will leave it to God to judge people's hearts, but I will place blame somewhere, like on Satan. When we blame and judge other people we are diminishing the role Satan plays in their choices, as well as our own. That may not seem important, and may even seem ridiculous to some, blaming Satan for people’s actions, but it’s when we deny he has any power over us that he can be most effective. And sometimes his goal isn’t to get us to be terrible sinners, it’s to get us to be ineffective Christians. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think judging people’s sins makes me a very effective Christian.
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This fits in very nicely with the Bible study book I'm going through right now ~ Having a Mary Spirit, by Joanna Weaver. In fact, the chapter I read just this morning deals with this.
I think that's totally right ~ Satan cares less about actually getting us to sin spectacularly than just crippling us enough to become ineffective Christians. He's sneaky that way. And we become so easily desensitized to sin ~ half the time even subscribing to society's belief that if something is generally accepted, then it isn't actually sin.
Having a moral compass has become "intolerant," but I think it's more important than ever to ask God daily to give us discernment and conscious consciences.
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