Contemplating sin

From the Fall onward, the world has been inflicted with the disease of sin, and can be seen throughout history. There has been no time when the world has had complete rest and peace with no war between one another, and there has been at no time and place a point with out moral confliction. “..history is little else than a record of rebellions against God…”[1] “He who looks into the state of society around him, finds proof of man’s wickedness. Crimes abound everywhere; and the earth is filled with violence, as it was of old.”[2]
I think that we as Christians have lost sight of the fact that sin, if not dealt with immediately, can be controlled by it. I have come too see from the lives of my unbelieving family members the effects of sin through their attitudes and actions, the events in their lives, and in their lifestyles, and I cannot help but think that they are dealing with the struggles of life, and the effects of un-repented sin without hope, and that at the center of their despondent lives is the fact that they are in direct rebellion towards God. If I thought about this clearly, every day, it should cause me to share Christ with them; and share hastily.
Too often we want that “feel good” “happy” feeling instead of coming to the realization that we have sinned against God, out maker and Creator. O, what union there could be if we would just repent and turn to the Lord. Yes, it is encouraging to know that God loves us. This is essential in knowing Him, and it is a huge part of His character; however, greater than that is our need for him. We need Him more than our need to be loved by Him. We have sinned against a perfect and Holy God; the God of the universe. We have made a mockery of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, and we want to “feel good” about this? Should we not be more concerned about the purpose for which Christ had to die?
The concept of sin and the seriousness of sin has been lost, and it is vital that we as believers return to this realization. We live as though the world owes us something, and sometimes as if God himself owes us something, but we fail to realize that we owe HIM everything; that we a sinful, corrupt, unholy, unworthy, god-hating sinner who deserves nothing, upon receiving Christ gained everything; yet with pride we take it, and with pride we fall failing to realize that it was for our sin that Christ was nailed to the cross in order for us to receive all that we have been given. It was sin that separated man from God, from a most perfect unity. It was sin that nailed Christ to the cross; it is sin that causes us to act out of rebellion towards God. It is sin that requires death, and it sin for which Christ died on the cross to reconcile us to the Father. Still, our view, and the way we lives our lives seem to scream the unimportance of sin, yet at its core it should remind us that what we deserve is death and Hell, but what we receive is salvation from that sin in order to spend eternity with God in Heaven.
[1] J.L. Dagg. Manual of Theology. (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1990), 151.
[2] J.L. Dagg. Manual of Theology. (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1990), 151.

Deep in thought...

I got an email the other day from a dear friend of mine. She's more like a second mother to me. Her son and I have been friends since 6th grade, and so we are pretty close. Anyway, contained in this email was some information about some friends of mine who have just been married and are planning for a second child. She made the comment that I needed to "find that man and get busy. [I] am falling behind. " That is totally how I feel, but my immediate response was I didn't fall behind...they started too early! Am I falling behind? Of course, I am earning a 4 year degree in 6, and I haven't dated anyone since my second semester in college! Many of my friends have graduated, gotton married, and are having babies. Its hard to be in the in between. People at work are giving me a hard time about still being single...it seems to be haunting me these days. What am I supposed to do? I can't do anything about it. I mean, well I guess I could loose about a million pounds, dye my hair blond, get blue colored contacts, and be someone I am completely not to attract a guy, but what then? There isn't anything there that is going to hold a relationship together! I want a guy to be attracted to me for who I am not what I look like. Basically, as Valentine's Day approaches and I think about spending it by myself, again, I can't help but think about how I am going to deal with this for the rest of my life. All the time I hear that God has intended marriage for most people, and we need to be prepared for marriage, and being a wife, and being a mother! But how in the WORLD do we prepare for life if this is not what God has planned for us? Its easier to deal with it when we are younger, we are still young, there is still time, but what about when we turn 35, 40, 45? What then, and how do we deal with it then when we have been taught and prepared for married life, we know all about married life, and life being 20 and single, but we know nothing about being 45 and single. How do we prepare for this? Is there a place in figuring this out? Just food for thought I guess...