Conviction

Another Good Friday and Easter season has come and gone. Good Friday service blew me away. In addition to a great message, our pastor had us write down the number one sin on our heart and nail it to a huge wooden cross. After taking communion and completing my turn at the cross, I sat back in my seat and listened to our Praise Band, leaned forward with my arms crossed on the chair in front of me and wept. In my heart I knew I could have taken up most if not all of the room on the cross by myself. I wish it were that simple. I wish I could nail my sins to the cross, walk away and Jesus would take them from me forever. After all, that is what He gave His life for. Why then do I continue to make the same mistakes and commit the same sins? I pray, I repent yet my human nature still gets the best of me. With my eyes closed, I stopped crying long enough to hear sniffles all around me and when I finally looked up, I am not sure I saw a dry eye. I felt very convicted yet ultimately encouraged. Thank God we are blessed by Him with an abundance of Grace. Based on the wet eyes I saw and the amount of nails which were pounded into the cross, I do not think I was alone. An email has been circulating recently giving tips on how to reduce stress. One of the many suggestions which goes along with the message I heard was to pray for your sins as they occur, not to wait till you go to bed. That goes hand in hand with thinking about what you are doing and pray before you take action. Unfortunately "simple solutions" are not always as simple to execute as we would like them to be. If nothing else, the sermon is still impressed in my mind and on my heart which is what I think our pastor was shooting for. Our family will be having a deep discussion about the message, it's implications and changes we need to make.