I was talking with a friend the other day, and we were discussing various battles with sin in our lives, considering how we work and struggle to overcome them. The Spirit brought to mind something I'd not thought of in quite some time.
We tend to beat ourselves up when we fail in a particular area we've struggled with - pride, selfishness, lust, anger, jealousy, whatever our particular weakness may be. We receive the conviction and heap it back on ourselves several times over in a self-inflicted mental penance. (That's a problem in and of itself. Christ already paid the price for our sins; we need not beat ourselves up every time we fall short. Come to a place of true repentance and brokenhearted-ness? Absolutely. But find some way to atone by beating ourselves up? No.)
But in our rush to chastise ourselves for our failure, we miss an important part of the way God dealt with the Israelites.
Namely, celebration.
Celebration of all He had done, celebration of freedom, celebration of victory.
So why do we not celebrate when we see significant advances in our battles against sin? I am not suggesting that we minimize the ongoing nature of those struggles. Rather, I am suggesting that we celebrate when God has given us victory: even when the war is not over, it is a good thing to celebrate the winning of a battle.
So he and I agreed: when we've both hit certain markers in various ongoing sin battles, we're going to have a party. It will involve pizza, ice cream, and praising of God, rejoicing in all He has accomplished in our lives.
Something to look forward to.
- Chris
We tend to beat ourselves up when we fail in a particular area we've struggled with - pride, selfishness, lust, anger, jealousy, whatever our particular weakness may be. We receive the conviction and heap it back on ourselves several times over in a self-inflicted mental penance. (That's a problem in and of itself. Christ already paid the price for our sins; we need not beat ourselves up every time we fall short. Come to a place of true repentance and brokenhearted-ness? Absolutely. But find some way to atone by beating ourselves up? No.)
But in our rush to chastise ourselves for our failure, we miss an important part of the way God dealt with the Israelites.
Namely, celebration.
Celebration of all He had done, celebration of freedom, celebration of victory.
So why do we not celebrate when we see significant advances in our battles against sin? I am not suggesting that we minimize the ongoing nature of those struggles. Rather, I am suggesting that we celebrate when God has given us victory: even when the war is not over, it is a good thing to celebrate the winning of a battle.
So he and I agreed: when we've both hit certain markers in various ongoing sin battles, we're going to have a party. It will involve pizza, ice cream, and praising of God, rejoicing in all He has accomplished in our lives.
Something to look forward to.
- Chris
Awesome approach.
ReplyDeleteParty on dude!
Sorry, the MTB'er in me came out. :P
ditto your Dad :)
ReplyDelete