comfy with sin

Why are we so comfortable with sin? How can we just go around and see sin all around us and not say anything? Does that mean that we don't find a problem with the sin and people can just go on sinning and we'll just carry on with our own lives as well, independant from theirs? I don't get it. I've been reading this book and last night his words just hit me between the eyes...and they made so much sense and made me feel guilty all at the same time. I will quote little parts of what I read last night.

He first quotes scripture from the Message bible. "Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you loose yout saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbag. (matt. 5:13, MSG)" As Christians we have little preservative effect upon our culture anymore. We wouldn't be useless if we feared God more than we feared men. After all, what if Christians stopped watching sensual halftime shows (refering to 2004) and refused to buy tickets to the latest R-rated releases and stopped...Things would change pretty quickly around here. Be realistic! That's not possible anymore. The very fact that you can't imagine this reveals that we've lost our saltiness, and it also begs another penetrating question: what exactly has the church been up to...? Has she been calling back the strays and setting the captives free? Hardly. The words of author and evangelist Leonard Ravenhill haunt me: This present day is like an arena whose terraces are filled with the militant godless, the brilliant and belligerent skeptics, plus the blank-faced heathen millions, all looking into the empty ring to see what the Church of the living God can do. How I burn at this point! What are we Christians doing? Sitting around silently mostly. In our quest to remain hip and relevant, our churhces have become irrelevant to the greatest issues of our day, playing right into the hands of the Enemy whose clever temptations reveal a deadly understanding of those issues.

WOW! I couldn't have said it better myself. Why do we sit silently on the sidelines and just let the sin go...unpunished...unforgiven...and sometimes unknown about! Why is everything watered down. It's okay to cuss as long as you don't direct it at anyone...YEAH RIGHT! It is not okay to cuss, use God's name in vain or any of those things. It is a SIN! I'll be bold and come out and say it. "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." (exodus 20:7) But Jamie, this is a different society than Biblical times. Times have changed, you might be thinking to yourself. Okay, fine, times have changed but people have NOT! We are still the same sinners that walked around this earth when Jesus was also walking around on earth. We are still the same sinners that ate the fruit in the garden. People are the same. We might have more technology and more things to occupy our time but we are still the same as people who were here 2000 years ago. Take away all the hoopla of today and you've got the same kind of people who walked this earth before us. I think we have it hard but so did they. The things that tempt us now are similar to the things that tempted people in Biblical times. So why do we just let it happen and act as if it's okay? Is it okay for me to fill my head with garbage...like listening to secular music, watching R-rated movies, drinking alchohol...smoking cigarettes and other things? Is that okay...since society says it is? NOT AT ALL! Those things are not helping people build their relationship with Jesus. Those things do not drawn us closer to our creator. Those things tear us apart from him and widen the gap that sin has created. I am trying to make the gap less, not increase the gap to be wider so why do I participate in some of those things. Please hear me out, I am not saying that we need to go around and anytime we see someone do something we should hit them over the head with our Bibles. But we need to start by building relationships...first and foremost with our Creator God. If our relationship with Him is not working...we're not reading our Bibles, praying, fellowshiping with other Christians, and worshipping Him, then we need to make it right. I also believe that it is important to have friends that are non-Christians. Not that we spend all our time in the "bar" with them or that we only talk to them but that we make friends with them to build the relationship and lead them to Christ. That's how Jesus did it. And if we are disciples we are followers of Jesus and should therefore follow in His footsteps and do the things he taught us to do. Maybe you have a secret sin in your life or maybe one that's not so secret. Maybe you never really thought it was a sin because no one came out and told you to stop it! Well, I am doing just that right now. STOP IT! Break the habits, confess your sin to a pastor, or someone older than you. Talk to someone seek help, accountability, anything. And when you do you may start to see things in a new way. I have those things too that I need to work on. Just because I am writing this does not mean I am exempt from reading it and hearing it also. It's just that I get so sick and disgusted when we as Christians do not stand up for what is right and we let society determine what is okay and what is not. This is God's world...He created it...hollywood didn't.