One day you might wake up to find out that a loved one has passed away or that some sort of attack has happened around the world.
It could come in a different form- moments that are outward but affect us and changed us inward. Moments of self-actualization, realization, whatever you want to call it.
Our lives are made up of moments in time. Moment by moment, our stories are created.
I asked a few of my friends to share moments that shaped them and made them who they are today.
"Junior year was the hardest year of my life, full of hardships and disappointment. However since then i've seen that God was shaping me into who he wants me to be. He was pulling me out of a life of selfishness and conceit and showing me his majesty, grace and peace. I remember the words "I'll never know how much it costs to see my sin upon that cross"-replaying in my mind, and realizing I am on this earth to give God glory, without him and his gift, I am nothing. "
"I was shaped the most when I was brought to my knees by my sin. Others saw my sin and I was completely exposed to the world and how unworthy I was to be in presence of the Lord. It wasn't until then I saw how much I needed Jesus, and not just to save me, but to completely take over my life and lead me towards righteousness."
"One moment that I think really shaped me was when my grandparents house burned down, I realized how in the world I was and how much more my heart wanted to be. I think this shaped me because it made me really realize how much better Jesus is than the things the world gives me."
"The time the volcano erupted in Costa Rica changed my life. My team was stuck there for another week, which meant God had more for us there. My faith was tested more in that week, and I had never seen God work more in my life. I came out of that extra week in Costa Rica changed, because God knew we needed to be there longer."
"I was trying to do it all on my own, fix all my problems and live the way I wanted to live without God's help - thinking I had it all together. I woke up one morning completely broken over it and a mentor showed me the verse Philippians 4:6 and it hit me- why am I so worried about fixing everything by myself whenever God has everything under control? "
I pray that these few testimonies ring true with someone reading this. There are moments that test us and usually bring us to our knees because that is all we can think to do.
Without going into details, the moment for me that has changed my life and shaped me forever is the moment i saw the depth of my sin and selfishness. I had hurt people close to me and I had constantly been justifying it- and all i know is one day when I was in Oregon at the coast, looking out at the Pacific Ocean it hit me.
My complete inadequacy. My complete brokenness. It wasn't beautiful in any way, it wasn't fun. In the moment our sin never seems that bad and it usually seems like it'll turn out okay. But no, this was ugly and it hurt my Creator to the core. The One of died for me and loves me more than i can imagine- that's who I am sinning against in the name of my own "desires".
I saw how I had been acting and I was blown away. I was broken up about it talking to a friend of mine and she said, "It's crazy isn't it? You never think you are capable of hurting someone so deeply. You never think you're capable of what you did and then you do it. And it tears you apart to think about how you are doing the very thing you never thought you would do."
That's exactly how I felt. As you can see from a few of those stories and from mine, I think a lot of people have had moments where they look back and are shocked by what they are capable of. Shocked by how they've acted. Shocked by their sin and flesh. I was.
However, I was reading in Romans recently and in chapter 7 this stood out to me: "For i know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So if find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand" (Romans 7:18-21)
As we see through those verses, our flesh is evil. We want to do good but our simple desires turn to sin and sin when fully released comes to death (James 1). So although it hurts to see our sin and it hurts to see our selfishness, i believe that it is so merciful of the Lord to bring conviction into our lives. Without this conviction, we would just be living in our sin without even thinking that we should turn away from it and that wouldn't be loving of the Lord. Loving someone means that you see them and you do not leave them where they are but you help them and show them their wrong so they can turn and taste and see that the Lord is good. See that the Lord is better. He's better than the fleeting desires of our flesh. He's better than that sin we just can't, or don't want to get rid of. He is overflowing with grace and mercy and wants to welcome us in as sons and daughters.
You see, for months and months I let this sin hold me back. I let my mind just sit in everything i'd done wrong and i lead myself to believe that i deserve it. - Don't get me wrong, we all deserve hell and eternal separation from God. But praise be to God that we have been freed from that. If you have accepted Christ as your savior and you believe in his work on the cross- you can stop trying.
You can stop letting your past sin rule your life.
The guilt, shame, anger, and the destructive nature that comes with it. Release that.
"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."- Galatians 5:1
y'all, this is THE GREATEST NEWS. we have been set free from our past desires and sins and we do not have to any longer be held back by it. We can live in freedom knowing that once and for all our SINS ARE FORGIVEN AND OUR DEBT IS PAID. Christ did not die on the cross for us to continue to be held back by our sin. So often i say to myself "well i know Christ forgives me but i just can't get over it yet" - like what is that?? IT IS DONE. our sins and mistakes- they have been paid with the price of a man's life and there is no use in trying to pay it ourself.
STOP TRYING TO MEASURE UP. you won't. you will get disappointed in yourself. you will try to make up for it. you will never attain that "perfection" on your own. Christ has already done it for us on the cross. What good news!
You see, for months and months I let this sin hold me back. I let my mind just sit in everything i'd done wrong and i lead myself to believe that i deserve it. - Don't get me wrong, we all deserve hell and eternal separation from God. But praise be to God that we have been freed from that. If you have accepted Christ as your savior and you believe in his work on the cross- you can stop trying.
You can stop letting your past sin rule your life.
The guilt, shame, anger, and the destructive nature that comes with it. Release that.
"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."- Galatians 5:1
y'all, this is THE GREATEST NEWS. we have been set free from our past desires and sins and we do not have to any longer be held back by it. We can live in freedom knowing that once and for all our SINS ARE FORGIVEN AND OUR DEBT IS PAID. Christ did not die on the cross for us to continue to be held back by our sin. So often i say to myself "well i know Christ forgives me but i just can't get over it yet" - like what is that?? IT IS DONE. our sins and mistakes- they have been paid with the price of a man's life and there is no use in trying to pay it ourself.
STOP TRYING TO MEASURE UP. you won't. you will get disappointed in yourself. you will try to make up for it. you will never attain that "perfection" on your own. Christ has already done it for us on the cross. What good news!
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2.
Go into this next semester, laying aside the weight and sin of your past and look to Jesus, the one who died for your sins. It is finished. Go and tell that good news to those on your campus, at work, your neighbors. Make this next semester one that is focused on those around you and not yourself. We all need more hope in this dark world, and if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and his work on the cross it is your job to go out and share it. I pray this blessed you if you're reading this!
