OK, let's lighten things up with a great video. Check out this clip from a wedding held earlier this month...this is a processional that is unforgettable!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Collateral Damage
Collateral Damage: Wikipedia defines it as "damage that is unintended or incidental to the intended outcome."
What started out as a military term actually has a far reaching definition that goes way beyond its origin with the armed forces. In fact, in a spiritual sense, I find no greater potential for collateral damage than SIN.
Oh how I wish people would foresee the potential harm their sin could cause before they act out their fantasy, their indulgences, etc. Sin impacts more people than the the "sinner." Many more people!
In 21 years of ministry, I have seen friends...fellow ministers...make sinful choices with absolutely no regard for the people whom it would hurt {a spouse, children, an entire church, a whole community}. And for what??? 15 minutes of pleasure? A cheap thrill? Are you telling me that the shattered lives and souls of the people you are called to love and cherish are worth your little romp in the sheets? Is your Internet escapade seriously worth losing everything you have labored for after years and years of hard work?
Can you look your children in the eye and tell them it was worth it? Can you actually look your spouse in the face and justify it all away?
Here's the answer: NO YOU CAN'T!
The title of this blog includes the word 'rant' and I am 100% guilty of that with this post. But let me at least try to encourage someone who may be facing this battle with some Scripture:
1 John 1:5-10
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
Rom 7:15-25
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Please keep in mind...there is no battle against sin which is so big that you and God cannot defeat it. BUT also keep this in mind...there is no battle against sin which is so small that you can defeat it without God.
You need God. You cannot beat sin without Him...period. Get over yourself and start loving people the way Jesus loves them. Avoid the collateral damage!
What started out as a military term actually has a far reaching definition that goes way beyond its origin with the armed forces. In fact, in a spiritual sense, I find no greater potential for collateral damage than SIN.
Oh how I wish people would foresee the potential harm their sin could cause before they act out their fantasy, their indulgences, etc. Sin impacts more people than the the "sinner." Many more people!
In 21 years of ministry, I have seen friends...fellow ministers...make sinful choices with absolutely no regard for the people whom it would hurt {a spouse, children, an entire church, a whole community}. And for what??? 15 minutes of pleasure? A cheap thrill? Are you telling me that the shattered lives and souls of the people you are called to love and cherish are worth your little romp in the sheets? Is your Internet escapade seriously worth losing everything you have labored for after years and years of hard work?
Can you look your children in the eye and tell them it was worth it? Can you actually look your spouse in the face and justify it all away?
Here's the answer: NO YOU CAN'T!
The title of this blog includes the word 'rant' and I am 100% guilty of that with this post. But let me at least try to encourage someone who may be facing this battle with some Scripture:
1 John 1:5-10
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
Rom 7:15-25
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Please keep in mind...there is no battle against sin which is so big that you and God cannot defeat it. BUT also keep this in mind...there is no battle against sin which is so small that you can defeat it without God.
You need God. You cannot beat sin without Him...period. Get over yourself and start loving people the way Jesus loves them. Avoid the collateral damage!
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