| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “You are loved” Our Bible verse for today: “Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Remove the temptations” Accepting and fully embracing the forgiveness of God is a key factor for experiencing the love of God. That’s why I’m taking this entire week to explore the subject of forgiveness with you. Often, we know intellectually that God forgives us, but experientially we don’t really live like we’re forgiven. Instead, we continue to relive past failures and we wallow in regret and remorse. While we should grieve our sinful behavior, at some point we need to be able to let it go. However, one of the reasons people have trouble letting go of their sense of guilt is because they’re still guilty – they have never really fully stopped their sinful ways. Sometimes we’ve indulged in a habitual pattern of sinful living for a long time and it has become so much a part of us that it feels normal (or at least not really that bad). Also, we tend to allow temptations from that lifestyle to continue to be present in our current life even though we have theoretically left the old ways behind. As Billy Graham was fond of saying, “The first step you need to take to gain victory over sin is to flee from whatever is tempting you.” Don’t play with it or toy with it in your mind, and don’t allow any physical remnants of it into your life. If donuts are your downfall, then stay out of the donut shop! If you’ve had a past habit of viewing pornography, then you need to have security controls set-up on your computer, by someone else, with passwords you don’t know. Whatever it is that has created temptations for you in the past, needs to be out of your life now. One of the reasons we sometimes have difficulty accepting and embracing God’s forgiveness is because we’re still guilty. Remove the temptations and you will be much less likely to sin in that manner in the future, and then your actual experience of God’s love for you will suddenly seem much more real and tangible. It’s hard to feel loved if you’re still sinning against the One you profess to love. I encourage you to remove the temptations from your life. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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