There are so many moments in my life that I am definitely NOT proud
of. Decisions I made that compromised my integrity, went against my
beliefs, hurt friends, brought heartache, and ultimately caused me to be
outright disobedient to God. Not fully obeying is total disobedience!
Either you are completely in the right or you are wrong. It is no
different with sin, you are either sinning or you aren't there is no in
between middle ground where you can sin halfway and be safe! I was
reading today in 1 Samuel and its funny how the Israelites are just like
us. They have their ups and their downs, moments of obedience and
moments of disobedience. However I like the words that Samuel speaks to
Israel in his farewell address from being the leader of Israel and
instating a king like the people requested. "Don't
be afraid," Samuel reassured them. "you have certainly done wrong, but
make sure now that you worship the Lord with all your heart, and don't
turn your back on Him." Although the Israelites did wrong, by
asking for a king to lead them instead of the Lord, God forgave them and
gave them this commandment. Don't be afraid, although we all have made
decisions in our life that have left us afraid of the consequences, we
have a loving caring God to look up to help us through those times. We
ALWAYS have the opportunity to turn from our old ways. Our bad habits,
addictions, laziness, rudeness, anger, bad stewardship habits. No
matter what the situation we always have to opportunity to turn to God
and not follow through in the way our flesh may desire to do. We must
remember that although we may sometimes live the rest of our lives with
scars from past sins or situations we don't have to let those define who
we are. God is able to restore all the lost time, put back together
the pieces of our broken life, and make us new! It is our duty to turn
towards God, to truly surrender to Him with all we are. To worship Him
alone with our whole heart, and not turn back towards our old life and
sins. When we are truly worshiping God with our whole heart we don't
have time to get caught up in the mess of the world. We don't have time
to spend our days doing the things that mean nothing to us because God
will be the one that means the most. Our lives will be so consumed by
Him that our focus will become in a sense so concentrated on Him and His
will that all we will be able to see are the opportunities that will
draw us closer to Him. We will be concerned for others more than
ourselves, we will be honest in our lifestyles, and begin to see our old
fleshly habits fade in the presence of God! It is up to us to draw
near and give our full heart to God. He is ready and waiting already
all we have to do it turn towards Him and not look back at what used to
be. God is not concerned about your past mistakes, He is looking at
joining you today to help you be the best you can be tomorrow!
This
week take some time and just ask God to cover your past mistakes.
Whatever they may be, there is nothing that He can't cover with His
forgiveness and love. For me I know there have been times where I was
the one holding myself back because I couldn't forgive and forget about
the things I have done. Don't waste time, if God says it is finished
and it is forgiven IT IS!! ACCEPT IT and move on ahead with Him. Don't
be afraid to walk daily with God, sometimes it may not be clear where
He is leading you but He has the perfect plan and will not lead you into
anything that He doesn't see as the absolute best for you! Take His
hand this week, let Him lead you and join Him in what He wants to do IN
and THROUGH YOU this week!
