WHEN I WAS IN JUNIOR HIGH, I thought it would be a cool thing to try a cigarette. Now, at this time in my life, I wore about a whole can of the pink Extra Super Hold Aqua Net in my hair a day. Anyone remember this stuff? That’s an exaggeration, but I used a ton of hairspray. It was the 80’s. It was summer time at my grandparents house in California and a friend gave me a cigarette.
So while the grandparents were out, I whipped it out, leaned over the gas stove to light it and caught my hair on fire, singing off my bangs. That day, I learned to keep my hair far away from fire. Plus, I had a pretty funny hairstyle for a while until my bangs grew out. Yet this is how people are with sin and grace. Instead of keeping far away from sin, they want to dabble with the fire having a hair full of Aqua Net and say, “I won’t get burned. I’m under grace”. Sin doesn’t work that way and it ain’t going down very pretty. I Corinthians 10:12 tells us,
“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
The Israelites, as God’s elect, thought they could safely dabble in the sins of idolatry and immorality. They believed that God was so merciful, He would overlook their sin as long as they practiced keeping His laws. After all, they were His own people and they lived under His protection. They had the Ark of the covenant and the voice of His prophets. They were blessed by Him. They looked good outwardly, but inwardly were corrupt. However, they met with God’s judgment and it was massive. Take notice. We can be sure our sins will find us out. If you repent, you can be forgiven; God is faithful and just to forgive all who repent. However, there are consequences for sin which may be more than you are willing to bear.
You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;” II Peter 3:17
Peter tells us time and time again to “be diligent” demonstrating that we must be actively involved in our Christian growth in order to be spiritually victorious and fruitful. Grace must not be taken for granted and treated as a common thing. Grace came at a high cost, the uncommon and precious blood of Christ. He has given you everything you need in order to be victorious over sin and the world, but you must be diligent to run the race set before you. Cast off every hindrance and seek after the things of God with the utmost urgency and stay far away from the fire. You will get burned. The flesh is attracted to sin like Aqua Net to fire. Instead of seeing how close to sin you can get without getting burned, why don’t you just stand as far away as possible and avoid it all together.
To Learn More About Pastor Crystal please visit the Leadership Page
