The Things of This World Grow Strangely Dim

Sorry for missing Saturday this weekend, I was up in the mountains at camp with some of the youth from church! Was so excited to be asked and get to go! I left with the expectation for God to work, what I got was so much more, for me and my group! The camp was fun, the worship was moving, and the message was powerful, impactful, and convicting! The thing that stuck with me most was the points made this morning before we left for home. Jared (the pastor for the week) talked about sin and overcoming sin. What he said was basically this: struggling with a sin is difficult, overcoming that sin can be even more difficult...depending on how you approach it. He used the illustration of having a "sinful addiction" to chocolate. If you tell yourself to stay away from chocolate, and you tell your friends to keep you away from chocolate, and you continually say "no chocolate" all you're going to think about is CHOCOLATE! You're setting yourself up for failure because you've continued to keep the sin (in this case, chocolate) on your mind. Rather, if we focus ALL our ATTENTION on Christ and the gospel and sharing and living holy and blameless lives, we won't be thinking about the sin. Wow. Did you get that? I didn't really listen the first time (I was a bit distracted) and was glad he said it again.

If you're focusing on God rather than the sin you are trying to overcome, your mind and heart will be so full of the Gospel and of God that there will be no room for your sin to continue to torment you. If we allow Him, God can fill our hearts and minds to overflowing and all that yucky sin stuff will be forced over the edge and out of our lives.

Point being, focus on Christ in the midst of overcoming sin rather than focusing on saying "no" to the sin. That's what got me. I often find myself saying no to things I am working to overcome and it becomes all about me. Instead, I need to make it about God, pray for his help, and immerse myself in His love and in His word to overflow the sin right out of my life. I had never thought of it that way. What sin are you struggling with that you just can't seem to kick? Are you focusing on the SIN? or on GOD? I pray God will change my habits and cause me to rethink how I approach my sin and I pray the same for you!