Progress not Perfection

We have all heard the saying progress not perfection, but I do not think that many of us hold to that ideal. It makes perfect sense that when you want to fix something about yourself then you should be able to do it immediately right? Yeah I did not think so either. I believe that in sin this can go the same way. Do not get me wrong, sin is sin. I just think that we look at our approach to overcoming it in the wrong way. There are two sides. The first is that you use God's grace cheaply. You do whatever you want, because you believe God is going to forgive you. That is a dangerous way to live. The second is when you hide in your shame, and let the sin eat at you until you have succumbed to it even further. Much like Adam and Eve you felt your vulnerability after a failure and hid from God instead of stepping into his loving light. This is where, I believe, our view on failure is fundamentally flawed. You see disappointment implies that something unexpected happened that is also not favorable. This is why God can not be disappointed in our sinning. Stick with me here. He does hate sin, but it is not unexpected. If we did not sin or had the capacity to be free from it then there would have been no need for Jesus. There ABSOLUTELY WAS a need for Jesus. We do sin, it is wrong, and it is our job to continuously try to overcome that. We can only do so with the loving help of our Lord and Savior. Yet God calls us to embrace our weakness and offer our vulnerability up to him so that he can be glorified. This is where strength is drawn. So the next time you sin do not push it out of your mind in the shame of guilt. Instead realize your flaw and notice the part where you did not lean upon the Lord. Then ask him to give you the strength to overcome it the next time, and the time after that. I promise you that you will start to win battles. get back on the horse, and know where your strength truly lies. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Progress not Perfection. God Bless.
-Joshua

The Complacency Curse

Go to any church in a third world country, and ask them what Christianity means to them. You will hear some of the things you would expect such as love, grace, hope, and Jesus Christ. However, a word that they would all use that you might not be familiar with is suffering. Third world Christians can not imagine following Christ without suffering. In America we see this as wrong or unjust. Did Jesus and Paul not continually say that we would suffer. Nevertheless, in America we have become complacent. We do not have to suffer, and it is easy for anyone to claim Christianity a system for their own personal beliefs. Paul lived in a world where the cruel Nero was burning Christians to provide lighting for his parties, and throwing them to the lions for mere entertainment. I can walk down the street right now, and tell anyone I know that I love and follow Jesus with little or no persecution. Yet this has not been a blessing for us. Instead it has become the very thing that is drying up our bones and making us a church that would sit inside a building's walls once a week instead of a group that is risking everything just to get a small glimpse of the word. We have every freedom to speak to others about Christ, yet most everyone who has claimed Christianity has never shared the gospel with anyone in their life. Can suffering be a blessing? If you ever met someone who still stood for Christ in the face of persecution then you would know it to be true. Paul spoke of a thorn in his side continuously torturing him all so he would know that the grace of Jesus Christ was enough for him. I fear that we have become so ego centralized that we have become so absorbed with our idea of freedom that we forgot to actually be free. If you look at some of the modern day issues concerning ISIS, and how American Christians are getting a reputation for hateful bigotry I think we might have to start seeing that America might not have a choice for complacency anymore. I believe that there will come a time where your faith will not be in question, and neither will your ability to suffer. It will be choice of taking up the gauntlet at the risk of your life as Christ asks in Luke 9:23, or going home and living the way we have continued to live over the past several hundred years. I am not so sure this is a bad thing. So why wait until things turn for the worst? Why not learn now what you can always use later. Suffer for Christ, and live your life in the flesh by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you. (Galatians 2:20). With love for all.


-Joshua