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Title: Have You De-Friended Your Sin?   Send to a Friend
Date: 10/05/2010    
 
Friends,

Welcome to another addition of Women of Wisdom's (W.O.W) e-letter! W.O.W's mission is to encourage you to live the divine purpose for your life! Expect to see a W.O.W. e-letter monthly and be sure to pass them on to your friends.

I''ve been getting the hang of these social networks lately.  I''m "linking in" and "tweeting", and gathering more and more friends on Facebook.  It''s been fun!  However, the other day I was "de-friended."  WHOA!  Really?  You mean someone didn''t want to be my friend anymore?!  I was incredulous! How could it be?  The funny thing is, I didn''t even know I had been de-friended until I noticed that someone close to me was still receiving messages from my ''ex-friend'' and I was no longer receiving them.

After I thought about it, I realized that my ex-friend no longer wanted to be my friend because I had gently confronted the friend about an issue in their life that wasn''t honoring God and my friend didn''t want to hear about it.  I tried to be very loving in my approach, letting Galatians 6:1 be my guide and yet the damage had been done. Even after I tried to repair the damage, my friend still choose to be mad, so I let it go.

Now it was my turn to be offended right? But I wasn''t.  I could truly say I harbored no unforgiveness towards my ex-friend. In fact, I only felt sadness because they had been someone dear to me.  However I must admit, I was upset that another dear friend of mine continued to be friends with them.  Yes, I know that sounds childish (this falls under the heading of ''being transparent''), but the truth is - I couldn''t understand why someone close to me still wanted to be close to someone who had made it very clear that I wasn''t the type person they wanted to be friends with anymore.  I guess I wanted her to be on ''my side'' and I took her continued friendship as a sign of disloyalty to me.  You could say that my feelings were slightly hurt.  Surely, my friend could see this was a matter of principle?!

So after I got over myself, it occurred to me that we often do the same thing in our relationship with God.  We know how much God hates sin in our lives and yet we continue to be cozy and friendly with all types of activities, habits, and ways of life that we know in our gut are not pleasing to Him.  Its as though we have categories for sins and are basically saying, "I know this may not be right but its such a small thing. After all, its not like I murdered someone or something."  And we continue to live exactly like we want to live and don''t take seriously those sins that may be small in our eyes but greatly offend our Holy God. 

But the Psalmist''s attitude was different. He expressed his heart''s desire like this: "Your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred, I count them my enemies."  (Psalm 139:20-22)  There was no doubt whose side the Psalmist was on.  He was on the Lord''s side!  His attitude was "I''ll de-friend anyone or anything in my life that doesn''t honor God". 

And shouldn''t that be our attitude too?  So what are we waiting for?  Let''s take an inventory of our lives and begin to ''de-friend'' those unholy habits, attitudes, and sins that we''ve rationalized as OK in some way.  We serve a holy God.  We can''t continue to be friends with our sin and expect to grow a fruitful relationship with Him.

After all, doesn''t He deserve our loyalty and doesn''t He deserve our best?

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." (Hebrews 12:1) 


Be Blessed!

Mary

Mary Banks

For Speaking Engagements: Contact 281.537.5959
Mary_Banks@wowconsultinggroup.com

Has this Demi E-letter blessed you? Write me and let me know. Better yet, pass it on to those you care about!


© 2010, Mary E. Banks Permission is granted to forward this e-letter (and it's greatly encouraged) provided the © copyright notice and contact information are included. Thanks!

   
 
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Have You De-Friended Your ...     10/05/10
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