I’m not generally one to quote pastors or anything like that, but Judah Smith has a sermon that I really like.
Before I left for the Race my church showed this video of a “word jam” of one of Judah Smith’s sermons. It was titled “Jesus is Loving Barabbas.” It’s a fantastic video that really hits home several aspects of what Jesus did for us. Really illustrates the amount of love and grace that God has for us.
In it he says that it doesn’t matter what you do, or how hard you try, you can never dig yourself out of the pit of sin you find yourself in. There is nothing you can do in your own power. You will stay down there in that deep, dark, damp pit of sin all your life if you try to handle it on your own. It doesn’t matter what it is, either. You won’t be able to pull yourself out.
Without God’s help, you may as well not even try.
Smith goes on to say that no matter how disgusting or despicable your sin, how abhorrent or terrible, God still loves you. No matter how much you think you deserve to rot in that pit with your sin, God still loves you.
Regardless.
Pretty neat, right? All of this essentially means that God always has our back. Done deal. That’s it. He’ll always love us. Always take care of us.
But here’s where the other shoe drops.
This isn’t some “Get Out of Jail Free” card. You can’t just sin all over the place, leaving a path of sinful destruction and just expect God to pick up the tab for you.
He doesn’t want that. And neither do you. You’ll live a miserable life. You’ll get used to the pit you’ll begin to believe you belong there. You won’t know anything about the redemptive power of God because you’ll have misused it.
No, that’s not what you need to do.
What I’ve personally learned about this is that you need to do two things. You need to learn from your past mistakes and use that knowledge to fight. And fight hard.
I get the feeling that Satan is named the way he is for a reason. The Enemy. The Adversary. These are not names that denote coexistence. Or friendliness.
They let you know that this thing is something you need to FIGHT. And fight hard!
When you sin, learn why you fell. Figured out what happened. Ask God for forgiveness, and then for guidance. That’s when you fight the cause. Fight the issue. Fight back so that you never end up in that pit again. This path, this faith, is plagued with failure. We’re only human. But God won’t give up on you if you don’t give up on Him.
The best image I can think of for this comes from the beginning of the movie Batman Begins. Bruce has fallen into this deep, dark well. Full of bats. He’s scared. More like terrified. He can’t get out on his own. He can’t even move he’s so shaken up.
When suddenly his father comes rappelling down into the well to save him. To pull him out and bring him back. For no other reason than the pure love for his son.
Jesus came to save us from that pit. To pull us out and bring us back.
That’s what you’re fighting for. Fighting the Adversary so that you can fully experience His love. So He can live and move in your life.
Are you gonna do it?
Or are you gonna sit and wallow in that pit forever?
Seth
