Come to your senses!!!! Use your CASE!!!!

Like many of you reading this…I have a “Smart” Phone.  The store that I bought this phone from has a protection plan that I pay for monthly and if anything ever goes wrong no matter what the problem or whose fault it is I can take my phone back to them and they will order a new one at no cost to me (technically it is a refurbished phone, but I can’t tell the difference).  Also like many of you, I bought a case for this phone to protect it from drops, children, myself, and anything else that might happen.  The brand name of this case is “Ballistic”.  With a name like that you would assume it can take just about anything and it can short of being submerged in water for more than a few seconds.  Now as great as this case is, it turns my thin little phone into a brick I carry around in my shorts.  But as long as I have the case on my phone nothing should happen to it.  However, just in case something does go wrong I have the protection plan to back that up. 

Back in the fall I was getting ready to go with the 12^th Man Ministry at the church where I’m on staff in order to serve our local high school’s football team and I decided to take the case off my phone so I could move a little better on the sidelines without this brick flopping around in my cargo pocket.  You can probably figure out where this is going.  While there, I dropped the phone and cracked the screen.  After that, over the next few months I intermittently used the case and eventually the cracking got worse from more drops and the phone started to act like it had been dropped a lot; so, I took it to the store and I get a new one.  I neglected to put the case on the new one and the very next day I dropped the phone one time in a parking lot and by the end of the day my screen was completely black from the liquid crystal oozing all over the inside of the screen.  Long story short I have replaced the phone a total of 3 times now; once because of defect or something, but mostly because I wouldn’t use the case. 

Some of you are probably thinking, “You’re an idiot,” and maybe I am, but this morning I became okay with that because this morning it hit me; isn’t this how most of us Christians live out our faith?  We have the protection plan for our eternity in place called GRACE; this grace wipes away all our sins (past, present, and future) and assures us a new body and eternal life with God in heaven.  Whether you realize it or not, as Christians, we also have a “ballistic” case which is made up of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Bible, and the Holy Church, which when used properly can help us live a life that is as sin free as possible and it also keeps us from experiencing too much damage when we do sin.   

The problem is we often neglect to use the case properly…or AT ALL for that matter.  But we still have the protection plan right?  That’s all we need right?  WRONG!!!  Without the case in tact we will be less likely to resist temptation, we will fall into sin more and more frequently, and we will not be able to withstand the damage sustained from the falls because it will destroy our lives and our ability to serve our function which is to glorify the name of God.

         Paul in Romans chapter 6 talks about dying to sin because of our commitment to a new life in Christ.  I know it is more than a simple scripture reference or a few verses, but I think this larger passage is appropriate.  Here is Romans 6:1-18:
¹ “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸ You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Just because we have the protection plan of Grace doesn’t give us the right to go on sinning.  We must have changed lives, a new focus; living for the glory of God and not ourselves.  If there is no change in our lives then apparently there was no change of heart and that would lead me to say, you have not fully become a servant of Christ.  You may have intended to, but you have not began to be obedient and that is a dangerous place to be.  James 2:17 says “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

The “ballistic” case, otherwise known as, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Bible, and the Holy Church is required equipment for an active Christian life.  We MUST use it properly to protect our ability to function as ambassadors of salvation to the world in the name of Jesus Christ.

  A few weeks ago I got my most recent replacement phone… this morning I finally came to my senses and put the case on the phone.  As I walked into the office this morning feeling the weight of the brick back in my pocket…God gave me the inspiration to write this post and give you this encouragement…

COME TO YOUR SENSES!!!!! USE THE CASE!!!!!

What are you saying from your platform?

I recently shared a video on Facebook of an interview with Jase Robertson, who is one of the stars from the A&E TV reality show “Duck Dynasty.”  During this interview Jase said something to the affect of “What you do is the platform for your faith.”  This was a simple yet profound statement describing how everything we do in life is a statement about what we believe.  ALL of our thoughts, speech, and actions say something about what we believe about God, his son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit or anything else that we hold beliefs about.  They speak to our belief in the salvation offered by Jesus’ death on the Cross and His victory over death through the resurrection on the 3^rd day. 

This comment by Jase reminded me of a couple passages from the Bible: the first is James 2:14-17

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such faith save him?  Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, WHAT GOOD IS IT?  In the same way, FAITH by itself, if it is NOT accompanied by ACTION, is DEAD.

             Faith is not just a decision to believe in a statement or a cause or, in this case, God.  Faith is a way of life.  Faith demands Action!!  If there is no action as a result of one’s faith, then their really is no faith.   That so-called faith is dead; in fact, there is a good chance it never even existed in the first place. I need to note that the true state of one’s heart upon acknowledgment of Jesus as Savior is not a judgment for me or any other man or woman to make, BUT the grace bestowed upon us, if our hearts are truly submitted to Christ, prompts us to action.  And “actions speak louder than words.”  The Apostle Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:14 “For Christ’s love compels us [to action], because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died”. [my emphasis]

             The second passage I’m reminded of is John 13:34-35:

Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this ALL MEN will know that you are MY disciples, if you LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

             My point is this; if “what you do is a platform for your faith”, then what exactly are you saying from your platform?  Are you saying, “Jesus is the King of my life”?  Or are you saying, “I’m the King and what I say goes”?  I can guarantee that you say one of these two things by your actions everyday.  Your words might claim Jesus as Lord, but what do your actions claim?  What are you preaching from your platform with your actions?

Mistakes vs Sins?

“God, please forgive me for my…MISTAKES.”

“Jesus died to take away the…MISTAKES…of the world.”

“For the wages of…MISTAKES…is death”

          There’s something very wrong with these statements, isn’t there?  Now to be honest, I have never actually heard these statements said.  However, I regularly hear the word ‘Mistake’ substituted for the word ‘Sin’.  It’s scary how often I have to fight the urge to use this word and just as scary how often I hear this word used by others instead of SIN.  Some people might push back and say, ‘Mistake’ doesn’t sound so mean; ‘Sin’ is such a harsh word; or it’s not really PC to use the word SIN because you’re implying that someone actually did something wrong…well that’s pretty much what ‘Sin’ implies.  Just to be clear, let’s define what sin is and what a mistake is, and then talk about why we should care about the difference.

Mistake – Noun- An error in action, judgment, perception, impression, etc

                 Verb-To understand wrongly; misinterpret

Sin – Noun- 1 A transgression* against moral or religious law or divine authority, especially when deliberate. 2 Any action or condition regarded as morally wrong or deplorable.

*Transgress means to disregard & go beyond the bounds of something; for example, a law

          Mistakes and Sins are both words for incorrect actions, perceptions, judgements, etc.  However, the difference between the two lies in the intent and foreknowledge.  A mistake is like a blunder, a miscalculation, ‘an error in judgment’, or even better, ‘acting in ignorance’.  On the other hand, a sin is a deliberate disregard for what is right.  What makes a sin sinful is that the offender absolutely knew that what they were about to do was wrong and yet they followed through with it anyway.  On the other hand, a mistake is a decision or action based solely on only the incomplete knowledge available at the time.  I know without a doubt that it is illegal and even more importantly dangerous to text and drive at the same time and yet on rare occasion, I still do.  By definition this qualifies as SIN; as opposed to someone who truly did not know that texting and driving was illegal.  They would be making a mistake were they to break this law; they would be acting in ignorance.   

          So why say all this??  Why bring this up and possibly split hairs??  First off I need to say that honestly, I am really only speaking to Christians with what I am about to say.  It is time that we (Christians) eliminate the word MISTAKE from our vocabulary when we talk about our SIN.  As far as our walk with God goes, once we understand (based on the Bible, teachings of others, and revelations of God) that something is against the will of God, we no longer have the right to use the word MISTAKE.  A mistake is an error done in ignorance and once someone is no longer ignorant of the wrong, all other instances of disobeying God in the same way is SIN.   

         Please understand, I’m not saying mistakes get free passes and don’t require forgiveness from God.  Both mistakes and sins need repentance, correction, and forgiveness.  However, based on my study of the Bible, we are accountable for what we know and SIN is what God hates; so, being the one who knowingly does what God hates cannot be a good place to be.  God said “My grace is sufficient for you,” (2 Corinthians 12:9) and that grace saves us from our sins.  So we should seek the instruction and will of God, rest safely in the grace of God and run from the SIN that snares and enslaves us.