Opportunity Lost

I have spent a huge amount of time (not by my own choosing necessarily) listening to the discussion around Duggars, Ashley Madison, Subway spokespeople, etc., and you know what...I am over it.

Aren't we all smarter than this???

Not the sin and screw-ups. I mean we should be smarter than all of those, but we are human.

Aren't we smarter than this to take the bait from the enemy?

Seriously.

The enemy dishes out all of this to inflict pain and create doubt in the minds and hearts of Christians and non-Christians alike about our loving God and the son (Jesus) he sent to save us.

Why do we keep forgetting that?

Every single time the enemy dumps a scandal or death or pain or gossip or sin at our feet, we should immediately look to God to help address it...but we don't (preaching to myself here). We get caught up in it, we vacillate back and forth about it, gossip, prognosticate on it, and worse we judge others on it. An opportunity to share our own stories, share a bigger story, share Jesus....is lost. Lost.

I wrote on my writing page this morning...

"I think one of the biggest lies the world tells us as Christians is that you are not allowed to mess up...and if you do...you have ruined your witness for this God and Jesus you proclaim to love.
I also believe that we as Christians have given them the ammo for this argument by projecting ourselves as "better" for whatever that is worth.

In this age where the sins and shortcomings of Christians and non-Christians alike are fodder for every human being to spew their opinion on the whys and wherefores of the sin, maybe it is such a time as this that we use each salacious story as a moment to offer up our own personal sin and how a redeeming and grace-filled God stepped in and wiped it away...healing us, and continuing to heal us because sometimes the wound is deep....

Hmmmm....

Maybe it is in our shared brokenness that we most beautifully reveal the true heart of a loving God and in our transparency and vulnerability we show others our beautiful humanity and our own good good heart for others.

Maybe the unrelenting press and noise in the world right now is not about showing what we don't like and don't agree with, but the opportunity to show a GREATER love....and that calls on each of us to show more of our own stories."

I was listening to Lauren Daigle's Once and for All this morning and this all just hit me. We all have a desire to lay it all down once and for all...even those that know Jesus...it is imbedded in us the desire to be better, do better, do more....So if we all have that instinctive desire and yet we all know that we are wrestling a grizzly bear to do it, then why don't we share more of our own stories with others so as to encourage others that our stories are not defined by our past mistakes or current sin, but by a God that is always by our side and gently whispering in our ears...keep going...I love you....I have you....

Today, this week, I am committed to making a concerted effort to share more of my own heart and failings with others whenever the latest headline lands....because there is nothing hitting any of our newsfeeds that we have not all wrestled with in one form or another. Maybe it is time for each and every one of us to dig into our own testimonies and share the redeeming grace we have all felt at the feet of Jesus. IF, on the other hand, in reading this you suddenly realize maybe you haven't fully experienced that grace...maybe you and God need some time together....because that grace extends to every single one of us.


Happy Sunday!

Sunshine Dreams to You ~ Today and Every Day! :)

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