Thursday, January 12, 2012

Inspirational Thoughts for Today

Zombies to Our Sin
 
"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right."  Romans 6:20 NLT
 
Afternoon!!  I pray all is well with you today...and with that I'll jump right into it.
 
Today I had a revelation from God about myself...and the battle with sin in general.  In life, we have become so desensitized to our sin.  We lie without regard for others (even the little 'white' lies), we steal, we cheat...and the list goes on.  But the worst part is that sometimes we are not even conscious of it.  Yep, we have become the movie version of a zombie.  We are mindlessly controlled and directed by our own carnal desires and we continue on without regard.  We become the epitome of a depraved individual and most times have no knowledge of even doing what we are doing.
 
I decided 4 days prior to the beginning of the New Year to make a sacrifice for God and give Him the last 3 days and the first 3 days of my new year.  That extended swiftly after I began reading a book entitled 'Fasting' by Jentezen Franklin.  I must say it has truly changed my life.  But in my desire to serve God and allow Him to move in leaps and bounds in my life, I decided to go without fried foods and sweets for the next month or so.  And if you really know me, I am a often woman of convenience...so Chick-Fil-A is a regular place I stop at for food.  I regularly order the 6-count Kids Meal with a ice cream in place of the toy and many times I get a brownie.  Over the holidays I had so many sweets, between the sweet potato pie I made for Thanksgiving to the Red Velvet Cake I baked for my lil sis before she headed back north...I over did it.  I realized in my life, I seldom force myself to go without anything.
 
With that, I have been doing well.  From resisting the abundance of cakes and pies here at work, to resisting birthday cake this past weekend at my friend's daughter's 1st birthday, I have fought the good fight.  I even resisted fried shrimp last night!  But today, I was caught off guard.  I had just left a meeting, just refilled my water bottle, and sat down at my friend's desk to gather my composure.  She had a pack of Fruit Snacks on her desk, and when I first looked at them, I thought about how much I wanted some, lol.  Don't judge me okay!  Then sure enough, she offered them to me...and I unconsciously opened the pack, only getting a few and ate them.  About 10 minutes later as I was in my car headed back to my own desk, it hit me what I had done.  And I asked God to forgive me, renewed my vow, and just kept thinking about it.  Unconscious.  That's what zombies are.  They are unconscious in their quest for the blood of the living and press onward towards their goal of blood, blindly walking forward.  I know you have seen the zombie movies...and I realized I allowed my own sin to turn me into a zombie.  How many times have I sinned without God in mind and just did whatever I wanted to do, satisfying my wants and desires?  Each time, I was pushing myself further and further away from God.  Fortunately, God has always been gracious enough to call me back to Him.  But what about our brothers and sisters that are not so fortunate to respond to God's call?  They are left depraved...and desensitized.  God is not forceful, so He won't force you to change.
 
I realized today that I do not want to be this way.  I do not want to be a zombie to my own sin and ignorant to the sins I commit.  Our freedom is in repentance and accepting Jesus' already shed blood as our atonement.  Jesus died to free us all.  We are no longer dead to righteousness.  We are dead to sin, we that believe in Christ.  Plug back into Him and come alive today.
 
"But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life."  Romans 6:22 NASB

No comments: