Posts Tagged ‘sin’

I’m So Sorry That Happened To You

Tuesday, February 13th, 2018

Confession:

The #metoo movement makes me sick.

In any church, 1 in 4 females and 1 in 6 males have experienced some sort of sexual assault, abuse or molestation. Step outside those walls and that number grows exponentially. Why? Why is our world so depraved? So sick? And why does it just continue?

I don’t have the answer, other than to point directly to sin and its grip on the world.

I know that sin. I’ve been a victim of another’s sick twisted thirst for pleasure. I could scream to the world my own #metoo story. It’s ugly and filled with pain but I do not live trapped there as a victim. For years, I struggled with shame and guilt for a crime I didn’t ask for. God didn’t leave me there — He filled me with grace and opened my heart to forgiveness. Still, I’m a #metoo person.

Confession:

The #metoo movement makes me angry.

Everywhere you look, celebrities are crying out and some of them in the ugliest forms regarding sexual criminality. The message has gotten garbled in many of their cries. By saying that I am not in any way dismissing their voices. I’m sorry for each misuse of power over any victim; woman, child …whomever! Abuse is abuse and it should be brought to light. No matter the victim.

The USA gymnastic doctor whose long list of victims horrifies me. Like many, I’ve wondered WHY? Why didn’t anyone speak up? The things he did with parents right under his nose wrecks my heart! Dear Lord, why? He deserves the punishment he receives and as a believer of Jesus Christ – I pray for his soul. He, no different than me….needs God and the forgiveness of his sins.

The Harvey W’s of the world seem to be everywhere too. Power exudes greed in too many that believe the lie that they’re entitled to abuse and use women and others for their satisfaction. The vulnerable fall victim too often to the hungry wolves of this stature. No one deserves to be used, exploited or treated as an object by these perverted evil people. Yet, the list of victims goes for miles.

For all of history, sexual crimes have been hidden or covered and not addressed as they deserve. Ask in any group of people if they or someone they know have been a victim or affected by sexual misconduct at some point in their life. I would almost bet there would be some raised hands. Today, we see a movement of people standing up and saying NO MORE.

Confession:

I can’t stand some of the methods of delivery being issued by the #metoo speakers.

The #metoo movement isn’t the only grossly negligent sexual horror going on in our world. Let’s not forget the sex trafficking business! Children are bought and sold as if they weren’t even human beings. Little tiny children. Many of these young & vulnerable children are oftentimes sold by their own parents!! Who’s fighting for them? Who is beating down society’s doors with pleas of help for them? Who is plastering the covers of Sports Illustrated and other magazines to scream justice for them? Crickets. Rarely do I hear a word about sex trafficking crimes and that disgusts me to the core.

Last Sunday, a member of my church spoke about a series of articles that he’s spent the last year or more researching to write to oust the child sex trafficking nightmare going on all around us. Tim Swarens has been in the dump and more learning everything he could to shed light on this crime of horror. His stories are heart-wrenching and filled with the reality that this crime is bigger than we like to imagine it is.

I’m linking up the articles published by USA Today so far and I challenge you to read them and forget what is the reality for so many. Next time you catch a magazine cover with a young woman wearing nothing but a word written on her body claiming #metoo…. think about the little girl who rides a bike with training wheels that’s used for sexual gratification by a grown man.

I’ll let you decipher the two. Both are victims.

So, my message to the #metoo movement: I’m sorry for what happened to you. I’m angry that someone would misuse you. I’m sick that anyone would think of you as a tool or a piece of property to be used and tossed aside. But, you are powerful. You are not held to a victim stake to burn and die there. You have strength, people who believe you and the hope to fight back any person who thinks otherwise. You can also stick up and fight for the little voices that are held prisoner in a world you cannot imagine. Please rise up and fight for others, those who cannot do it for themselves.

Child sex trafficking is real. Just as real as every casting couch sleaze ball making the moves on a young beautiful woman. Fight for them too!

CLICK ON THESE LINKS TO READ TIM’S ARTICLES

Who buys a trafficked child for sex? Otherwise ordinary men

The sex trafficking victim who needs training wheels

Boys — the silent victims of sex trafficking

It lights up the brain like crack: why men buy sex?

I’ll wrap up my post with this, the church has a responsibility to do something. We cannot look the other way. What exactly does that look like? I don’t know. For me, I refuse to cover up sexual sin for anyone. Whether it be for a wealthy young celeb or an orphan being sold for drugs. God loves both and He cares about what happens to them. My challenge is for each of us to figure out what exactly it is that we can do to stop the evil dangled in our face.

If you are someone who has experienced such evil…I’m so sorry that happened to you. God loves you and values you even though you’ve been treated otherwise.

Lord Jesus,

Make it known, every ugly sin hidden in darkness by every perpetrator of sexual deviance. Light up every dark corner of our world. Open every heart that hurts for the ones who cannot fight for themselves. Let us stop what the enemy parades as secret! Here, now and everywhere!

Amen

Good People are Sinners

Wednesday, March 8th, 2017

broken heart

I need help. I have a condition that cripples me from living the fullness of my life as God promises. It’s called human being thinking. Also known as worldly thinking.

What is human or worldly thinking? Well, in a nutshell…it’s believing that I’m the only person I need to worry about pleasing or satisfying. It’s thinking that I owe no one or thing any allegiance but my self.

The truth is, I’m not qualified to be my own God and Judge.

    My heart is wonky.

It’s dirty, full of sin and ready & willing to turn to whatever feels good instead of running hard & fast after what is Holy. One of the biggest lies we tell ourselves is that one about being a GOOD person.

I’m a good person … therefore, don’t judge my decisions or choices. They’re mine, butt out!

The problem with that is that a lot of good people end up in hell. Being “good” isn’t what offers you and me a place in eternity with God.

be holy

While I believe there are good people in the world, I know without a shadow of a doubt that not one of them is perfect or spotless in the eyes of God. It just isn’t possible. Only Jesus Christ has the ability to be that. We are liars, thieves, cheats and more. We trick ourselves by justifying the sin in our lives and that’s where we get the uncanny ability to overlook faults or weaknesses that make us everything we never want to be (or to be called), wrong.

Look, sin is a human condition. Not one person gets to walk through this world without falling into its hole. We are all sinners. You, me, your grandma, your pastor, your best friends’ Sunday school teacher….. every. single. person. sins.

The problem we have isn’t just admitting it. It’s admitting it and believing we need a Holy God to forgive us. To repent and or change.

be holy 1

Which brings me back to thinking like a human being. There are times when my head wants to gloss over what I know is wrong in my life. I can make whatever is ugly look and feel really lovely if I work at it long enough. Except, the Holy Spirit never lets me enjoy it truly because it’s genuinely gross and disgusting. It doesn’t belong where I’m trying to force it to be.

During this season of Lent, I decided (secretly, between God & Me) to give up something that was literally owning me. It’s not something that others would find bad or unhealthy…but it’s something that I know God doesn’t want for me. When I decided to remove it from my life, I was driving down the road in my car when a simple thought came to my mind that said, “Let it go!”.

Now, that seems simple. But, it had a great hold on my every day life. I liked it. I planned my day around it. It was ruling me. Once I decided to get rid of it, it left. I haven’t longed for it, I haven’t wished for it, I haven’t even tried to figure out a way around getting back to it.

It’s not something I want in my life anymore.

That’s exactly what God desires for us in every aspect of our lives. He wants us to CHOOSE HOLY over worldly. His plan for us never involves sin. We do that to ourselves. We lock ourselves into sin habits or sin thinking. Then, our hearts twist up the truth with the lies we tell our brains and the result is a lifestyle that doesn’t match up with God’s plan for us. But, then….there’s grace.

If there ever were a poster child for GRACE, there you’ll see me.

See, there’s nothing so bad….not one sin that God isn’t ready and willing to forgive us for and to help us overcome in our lives. He is in the forgiveness business. He sent His Son because HE KNEW we would need that kind of sacrificial love and mercy.

Listen, if you’re believing the lies you tell yourself that you don’t need God or His ways….you’re wrong. You do, I do … we all do. He knows that. He’s ready and willing to turn you around. Don’t buy into what the world is selling. It’s cheap and it’s costly all at the same time.

You’re worth more than that.

be holy 2

A Lesson For Me

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

Do you remember high school? For me, it was about 28 years ago….except I’m still there, really. I walk the same halls as my youngest everyday. I see the struggle of choices teens face and the sadness of wrong direction in their lives. Not a day goes by that I’m not witness to the depravity of sin in our world. It crushes my heart and knocks me silly in disbelief.

My youngest missed her winter homecoming last night, on purpose. It was one of those “teachable moments” in a parents life. I found her in the bathroom crying. Friends can be everything to a teenager and when you can’t find one that holds the same values as you…..it’s devastating! I think she had folded her heart up and stuffed it in her pocket in hopes of protecting herself from feeling the stuff that poured out last night.

She hurts for the friends that are choosing to be like the world.

How do I encourage my girl whose trusting me with information that is ugly and shameful about her Christian friends? Those moments don’t “just happen” in the life of a teen. Sins are kept secret and giggled about around unsuspecting parents. I’m her confidante and she needs me. She’s relying on me to direct her and hand over sound advice. She doesn’t need my judgement or self-righteousness. Even though my flesh wants to spew it!

It takes a strong person to walk away from sin. Sometimes it means not having friends. The effects of doing it can cost you. “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22) If you’ve ever had to stand up for something you believed in…then maybe you know what it’s like to be ridiculed or excluded from a group. It can mess with your self-worth big time!

Unless, you’re absolutely clear about your worth in Christ Jesus!

God,
Thank you for my girl who chooses you, even when I’m not around to push her in your direction. I feel ashamed of myself for only trusting so far. Forgive me. She’s different because of YOU and I like it. Use me to love and remind her that these moments are molding her into the follower YOU WANT HER TO BE. Souled Out, no matter who’s doing what around her!
Amen

Gates is a lover of life. She’s fun and daring. She makes everyone around her laugh. Her confidence is evidence that she’s the baby of a family that spoiled her. She makes friends easily and she’s beautiful. But she’s intolerant of what she knows to be wrong behavior and she won’t compromise herself just to be friends. She’s wise beyond her 17 years and she taught me a great lesson–staying home with your family is better than going along with the crowd any day!

PARENTS: Give your kids a solid foundation. Teach them God’s truth, every single day! Then hand them over and allow God to direct their path. Let them see your own struggle to live a life that’s pleasing to God. Don’t forget to share with them your victories in faith as well. Every day there is a lesson for each of us. Learn & grow because of it.

Someone else’s sin

Monday, July 27th, 2009

One of the saddest parts of scripture can be found in 2 Samuel. King David had some bad kids! Namely, Absolom. In chapter 13, we see that he had a beautiful sister named Tamar. Tamar was a virgin. Amnon, another brother (from another mother) was fascinated with her. He was lusting to the point of craziness. He had to have her! An evil plan was put in place at the urging of Jonadab, a not so upstanding friend. Amnon would fake sick and ask for Tamar to come make cakes and feed him until he felt well again. Huh? That just sounds hokey to me. King David sent word for Tamar to aid poor sick Amnon (never knowing that a crime so sad would take place against her). She went, he raped her…even though she begged him not to. Then, verse 15 says, “Amnon hated her with such intensity that the hatred he hated her with was greater than the love he had loved her with.”

Tamar’s life…..was ruined!

She lived the rest of her life as a desolate woman in her brother’s house.

The King…..was furious! That’s all we are told. He doesn’t call him in and bust any booty! He simply feels helpless, maybe. Oh but Absolom, he hasn’t let it go. Two years later, he pounces on an opportunity to retaliate. He too devises a little scheme. He invites all the king’s sons to a little party out at Baal-hazor. He tells his men to keep an eye on Amnon, once he’s good and drunk…..kill him! They do the deed….the rest of the sons take off (wouldn’t you?) and head for safety. By this point, who can you trust, right? Certainly not a brother!

Again, the king does nothing…..he mourns but gives no real consequences. Scripture tells us, he tore his clothes and wept. Which is understandable….it was his son. On top of that, he was killed by another son. So, yeah….I think that’s pretty awful! But, come on KING! Hold someone accountable! Parenting is tough! We’re not to be passive in that job. Our kids need Christ-like guidance all the time.

We see that Absolom stays away for 3 years. Then weasles his way back in….and here’s where it gets really ugly! Absolom wants to take over his father’s role as king. Undeservedly at that. He uses people and trickery to get the king into battle. King David split and started running for his life with his men…..he left behind 10 of his concubines to take care of the palace.

Bad idea.

Absolom is so wicked. He takes these poor women to the roof and rapes them for the whole world to see. Not only are they his victims…but in Chapter 20 we see that they lived the rest of their lives as if they were widows. King David put them under guard, he provided for them…but he never spent any time with them again. It was as if they never existed!

Someone else’s sin! Tamar and the 10 concubines….victim’s of someone else’s sin! What had they done? Through no fault of their own, these women carried the consequences of someone else’s sin to their graves.

This causes me to think long and hard about my own sin. Not only does it affect me but it affects those around me. I don’t want it to, but the reality is that it does. How can I protect those that I love? By living in obedience to Christ. He specifically died for me in order that I would be free from the effects of sin. He was beaten….so I could be whole. God’s forgiveness and sacrifice allows me the freedom to be His…even though I don’t deserve it.

“I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow”. Jeremiah 31:13