Metamorphosis

1 Corinthians 10:12

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

Solomon, the wisest man in the bible fell to sexual sin! Samson, the strongest man in the bible fell to sexual sin! David, the man after God's own heart fell to sexual sin! Therefore, for any of us to think that we’re above falling into sin is akin to thinking we’re wiser than Solomon, stronger than Samson and more godly than King David!

Take a piece of wood, apply enough pressure and you get coal, apply even more pressure and you get a diamond! Squeeze grapes, ferment the juice and it turns into wine, distil the wine and you get brandy! Each step change is move valuable than the earlier stage, and so it is with us!

None of us are bad because we make mistakes, our mistakes, which as long as we repent from them seeking God’s forgiveness, provide us with valuable learning experiences. So don’t let your mistakes drag you down! There has only ever been one sinless perfect man, that was Jesus Christ, the very Son of God.

It's said that practice makes perfect, that might be true for some things, but for us it’s not practice that make us perfect, it’s recognising the mistake, learn form it, repent from it never to repeat it that helps make us perfect. Sins or mistakes if you like, are like the sparks that get ejected from the crucible of our lives, driven out by the refiners fire as we are purified!

We mustn’t think that our past has made us unworthy, David was forgiven and allowed to continue as King of Israel. Solomon was forgiven and allowed to build God’s Temple. Samson was forgiven, and even while bound in chains with burnt out eyes his strength was retored for one final act of service to God, the destruction of the Philistine temple! It's only through God's grace and mercy that we having repented can lift our heads oncec again to serve God and the work he has prepared for us, so keep going!

As for the rest of us sinners, Paul tells us that we’re called to build people up, not to judge or tear them down.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

If we judge all we do is heap the sins that God has already forgiven back onto the backs of our brothers and sisters in Christ. By this we tear them and their faith down in the process. We must never do this because if we do, Jesus has warned us that there's a millstone necklace waiting and God will judge us by the measure we’ve used on others.

Have a great week, and God bless,

Trev.