Thursday, January 22, 2009

Sin: Cigarettes of the spiritual world.


A little disclaimer before I begin. I am NOT saying that smoking is a sin, NOR am I saying that cigarettes will send you to Hell. To steal a quote from my youth pastor: "what they WILL do, is send you to Heaven faster". I am merely trying to illustrate a point, and cigarettes/ smoking is the image I've chosen to help get that across.

As someone who is, once again, trying to overcome my addiction to smoking, AND a born again follower of Christ, the similarities between sin and cigarettes are very obvious to me.

I first made the connection when I was listening to a Lucero song entitled: "Drink 'til we're gone". The lyric that I reference says: "I'm wastin' my time, with these cigarettes, and these ashes are all I've got left". That simple verse got my mind rolling.

What good does smoking do? Why do we (I) do it? All it's good for is slowly killing you (me). Every smoker alive knows it to be true. It isn't a pleasant death either. It's slow, painful, and torturous. Smoking stinks. It stains your walls, your teeth, and your fingers. There is scientific evidence that it's bad for you (me), and there are NO good reasons or justifications to do it. It's dumb. Why, why, WHY do we (I) do it?

As a Christian, I see sin the same way. It too, slowly kills us. Romans 6:23 tells us: "For the wages of sin is death". We don't automatically die as soon as we sin, it's a process (slow, painful, and torturous if you will). Genesis 8 talks about a sacrifice (something given up or lost for the sake of something else) by saying: "And the Lord smelled a sweet savour". It stands to reason that, if a sacrifice to God (something good) is a SWEET smell, then sin against God (something bad) would be a BAD smell. It would stink. Follow? The similarities don't end here. Jeremiah 2:22 says: "For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is MARKED before me, saith the Lord God". The New American Standard Bible translates it a bit differently. "Although you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, the STAIN of your iniquity is before Me, declares the Lord God." It's a stain, a mark, a smudge, whatever word you want to use to describe it... it's all the same! There is NO good reason, NO justification. It's dumb. Why, why, WHY do we do it? Like the Lucero song says about cigarettes, all it does is waste our time and leave us with nothing but ashes (a mess).

Just like cigarettes, sin leaves us needing more. We're okay for a while with the little bit we get, but eventually the feeling, the high, the pleasant tingle wears off and we need more. We come back to the thing that kills us for another draw. We inhale the things that destroy us, just for that short moment of pleasure. We don't realize that in our spiritual respiratory system, we're choking the very thing that our life depends on. In the physical, it's our lungs. In the spiritual, it's our relationship with Christ and The Father. Sometimes we DO realize it, but we do it anyway. We do it because by the time we finally get it, by the time we finally see it for what it is, we're so addicted that we can't get out. Sin/ cigarettes have such a hold on us, that many can't see the negative aspects it produces. Just as a smoker can't smell the smoke on their clothing or in their hair, many times sin gets us to the point where we don't even realize that what we're doing is wrong. We've justified the situation to ourselves to the point that we honestly believe that what we're doing is okay.

Proverbs 26:11 describes it better than I can. "Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly." Can you imagine eating dinner, sitting down on the couch to watch the newest episode of American Idol, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Whale Wars, whatever fits your situation... and throwing up on the carpet in front of you. Now comes the disturbing part. You don't get a towel, a rag, or a steam cleaner. You get on your knees and lick it up like a dog. Just thinking about it makes me nauseous, but that's what the Bible says we do... and it's disgustingly accurate.

How do we get over this "sin addiction"? They make patches and pills for smoking, yet comparing God to these things hardly does him justice. It's an insult to describe him this way. The only thing my mind can compare him too, would be a surgeon. This surgeon is trained in all ways of surger-ing... he can operate on any system, any organ, any bone. This doctor finds you dying from lung caner (sin) and takes compassion on you. He does a lung transplant (salvation) to save you from the cancer. Then, because he knows you're a smoker (sinner) and will return to your "vomit", he does a brain transplant too (sanctification). He gives you a brain that knows better than to smoke. One that recognizes the dangers, the risks, and the sheer stupidity of the act. Then comes the best part. When your insurance won't cover the cost of the surgeries he performed..... he doesn't hold you accountable for paying the debt. Someone has already covered the cost for you.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Spaghetti and BlackBerry

So, I heard that you can add text and pictures to Blogger via your cell phone (reason 479 why I love my BlackBerry!). I don't know if I'll use Blogger enough to justify doing that, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Amazing Grace

Far too often in life, we over look the little things. We get used to things, and they become "boring" to us. We are too focused on what's new and exciting, and we forget the simplicity and beauty that can be found when we closely examine the things that we are accustomed too, instead of taking them at face value.


One such example can be found in a song. The song "Amazing Grace" is believed to have been written in late 1772. Almost 237 years later, the song is as true and inspiring now as it was the day it was penned. All we have to do is look at, and think about, the words to realize how encouraging and stimulating it really is.

Amazing: causing amazement, great wonder (rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one's experience), or surprise.
Grace: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification.

Amazing grace (awesomely mysterious, unmerited, divine assistance) how sweet the sound (pleasing to the ear, mind, soul. Bringing comfort)

That saved (to rescue or deliver from danger or harm) a wretch (a base, despicable, or vile person) like me

I once was lost (not made use of, won, or claimed/ ruined or destroyed physically or morally/ unable to find the way) but now I'm found (rescued, provided for, protected)

was blind (sightless, unable to discern or judge, vulnerable), but now I see (represents a miraculous healing. Like Saul, the scales have fallen from our eyes.)

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear (to fear God and be in awe of his love, mercy, and power) and grace my fears relieved (no fear of the Enemy or things of the world. No matter what happens, we will be taken care of and provided for. Saved.)

How precious (of great value or high price, highly esteemed or cherished) did that grace appear, The hour I first believed

Thru many dangers (liability to injury, pain, harm, or loss), toils (struggle, battle, long strenuous fatiguing labor), and snares (traps) I have already come (meaning we have been delivered from the things of the world)

'Twas grace that brought me safe thus far (we didn't do it on our own), And grace will lead me home (God's grace and provision will NEVER leave us)

When we've been there ten thousand years (an amount of time that no human can honestly fathom or imagine), Bright shining as the sun (could also be seen as SON. We will be transformed and more like his image. Pure, perfect, spotless)

We've no less days to sing God's grace, than when we first begun (an ETERNITY {ENDLESS time})

Reading these words and searching our hearts, how can we not feel a stirring? How can our emotions not well up inside of us. How can we not catch a glimpse of our God and his love for us?

This song does so much for me. It inspires and encourages me, yet it also humbles me. It makes me realize how undeserving I am, and how great God is for providing anyway. I'm so glad it's not performance based. I don't have to pray 5 times a day, or confess my sins to a priest who tells me how to atone for my sins. All I have to do is accept Christ and his gift. It's so simple, why do we make it so hard to understand?