We “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). This bible verse has burrowed its way inside my heart this week. This week, with the help of the Spirit, I’ve quietly taken stock on the ways I’ve fallen short and, boy, some days are better than others, but on all days, there’s always something. Sometimes it’s something small. Sometimes it’s something large. But my response is always the same: “Man, I wish I hadn’t done that.” Some days I reap no serious consequences, but other days, my mistakes ripple out into the world where I can’t take my actions back anymore and I (and others) have to suffer the consequences of it. Either way, I have sinned and fallen way, way short of the glory of God.
As I get older, the fact I sin and the fact that I live in a world that’s full of sin increasingly bothers me. I’ve begun to be aware of a deep yearning in my heart that wants, aches and thrashes for perfection, integrity and pride in being able to be honorable. In short, it’s a yearning for God and the eternal life of peace He has planned for us. There are days that I look at a caterpillar with envy. It is able to shed its body that keeps it trapped to earth and emerge as a beautiful butterfly that’s free to fly anywhere its heart wishes. I would love to do the same with the body I am in right now.
But then, it strikes me. We WILL be able to do that. When the time comes, we will all get new bodies as we go home with Christ (see 1 Corinthians 15:50-54) and we will finally be free from the sin that entraps us from flying free. It is then that I thank God that the writer of Romans did not finish writing on verse 23, but instead kept going saying that we are “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”
So, while I may sin often, because of Jesus’ sacrifice, I have the strength and the courage to keep going. I can pick myself up and dust myself off when I slip and fall (and fall often, I will). Through the wonderful, amazing grace of God and my conscience in the wise Holy Spirit, I can learn from my mistakes and keep on walking, following Christ. Just because I slip doesn’t mean I can’t–and won’t–keep going because I know to the faithful Christians the day will come when we all can roam as a butterfly can, floating in the world, sinless, happy and free.
– Matt
1 Corinthianscourageeternalfall shortGodintegritypeaceperseveranceRomanssinstrengthyearn
Float Like a Butterfly
August 6, 2009
Calvary
Comments Off on Float Like a Butterfly
Matt
We “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). This bible verse has burrowed its way inside my heart this week. This week, with the help of the Spirit, I’ve quietly taken stock on the ways I’ve fallen short and, boy, some days are better than others, but on all days, there’s always something. Sometimes it’s something small. Sometimes it’s something large. But my response is always the same: “Man, I wish I hadn’t done that.” Some days I reap no serious consequences, but other days, my mistakes ripple out into the world where I can’t take my actions back anymore and I (and others) have to suffer the consequences of it. Either way, I have sinned and fallen way, way short of the glory of God.
As I get older, the fact I sin and the fact that I live in a world that’s full of sin increasingly bothers me. I’ve begun to be aware of a deep yearning in my heart that wants, aches and thrashes for perfection, integrity and pride in being able to be honorable. In short, it’s a yearning for God and the eternal life of peace He has planned for us. There are days that I look at a caterpillar with envy. It is able to shed its body that keeps it trapped to earth and emerge as a beautiful butterfly that’s free to fly anywhere its heart wishes. I would love to do the same with the body I am in right now.
But then, it strikes me. We WILL be able to do that. When the time comes, we will all get new bodies as we go home with Christ (see 1 Corinthians 15:50-54) and we will finally be free from the sin that entraps us from flying free. It is then that I thank God that the writer of Romans did not finish writing on verse 23, but instead kept going saying that we are “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”
So, while I may sin often, because of Jesus’ sacrifice, I have the strength and the courage to keep going. I can pick myself up and dust myself off when I slip and fall (and fall often, I will). Through the wonderful, amazing grace of God and my conscience in the wise Holy Spirit, I can learn from my mistakes and keep on walking, following Christ. Just because I slip doesn’t mean I can’t–and won’t–keep going because I know to the faithful Christians the day will come when we all can roam as a butterfly can, floating in the world, sinless, happy and free.
– Matt
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1 Corinthianscourageeternalfall shortGodintegritypeaceperseveranceRomanssinstrengthyearn