sin

A Caged Bird

caged-birds

So this post is kind of personal, so bare with me. Nonetheless, I am a natural thinker and so every situation I dissect and look to see what in the world the Lord is trying to teach me. That may sound a little cliché, but it is so very true. Last year especially, I was taught that in situations you don’t like and or understand don’t ask God why something is happening, but rather what it is He wants to show you and or do in, through, or for you. It inevitably changed my perception on so many things; my perception on life has matured and reinforced my mantel of purpose.

Needless to say, this current situation has made me feel like a caged bird. Although it’s already enough drama, I feel like I am walking on eggshells, even when I sing. In addition I want to write and express myself, but that is put under a microscope just as much. One thing, I am definitely realizing about myself is that mercy is not my spiritual gift. I mean I will be sympathetic and compassionate, but after a while people need a reality check and a push forward. That’s just me. Yet still, as much as I want to be me, I can’t. Like a caged bird, I feel locked up in my emotions and locked away from my passion, to spare others’ sensitivity.

Three quotes come to mind. This first one, I heard my dad preach in a sermon some time ago: “the goal in life is not to find your freedom, but to find your master, and in that you will discover your freedom.” So, when I look around I must ask who am I truly let govern me? Myself? The opinions of others? Or Christ? The most freedom I found is in Christ; He created me, so he knows me and what I need and even my deepest desires.

My younger sister blew my mind last night in our conversation when she said this, “freedom only comes from captivity.” This means that when I am locked up, one, it’s only for a season. Two, the glory will be greater and more effective when I come out on the other side. Freedom will be so sweet, in knowing what it means to be captive.

The last is from Dr. Seuss: “Be you who are and say what you feel. Because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” This reminds me to just be myself, and that those who need to be there will, and I won’t have to change who I am to accommodate someone else. And sidebar: truth hurts.

Yet, at the same time, I consistently question and monitor my own motives and attitude, because God can’t be glorified if I don’t have a mind of Christ and am not focused on Him. If my mind and spirit aren’t right, I can inadvertently compromise my testimony.

So all in all, if you feel like a caged bird, like I have lately, don’t be discouraged. God has a purpose and a plan, that He is setting up in the heavenly realm. He created you in such a way that some people just don’t understand, and can’t comprehend. But, know what God’s purpose is for you and stick to it. His opinion is the only one that matters. When He is ready, your time will come and the cage door will open, and the world will come to know His name by your name, which is why this caged bird sings: she has a purpose, and a gift that God calls irrevocable.

Desire

So yesterday, I went to church and the message was on the story of the temptation of Jesus (Luke 4). I loved most how Jesus went through this to prove his humanity, and desiring to show us that we can live victoriously, even in the face of dire trials and temptation. However, the catch is being full of the Spirit. Even as Christians, we still go through things, we still are put in adverse situations, even though it may not be out fault. Yet, this story proves that we can be conquerors.

The particular temptation we looked at in the sermon yesterday, was the first, the personal temptation, of Jesus in the wilderness. Satan had probed Jesus to turn the stone into bread, being as though Jesus was hungry from not eating 40 days. Still, Jesus said no and replied “it is written…” The sin in this situation wasn’t turning stone into bread; he hadn’t eaten in so long and it can be assumed he desired to eat. However, being in a close relationship was God, he knew it was not God’s timing, and blatantly going against God’s timing is the sin. Our flesh is a monster, still, our God is greater and we can fight the temptation of self, of the flesh, no matter how practical the temptation may be, and lets be honest sometimes we want it bad, real bad…but just as Jesus was in the wilderness, we are more than conquerors (Rom 8:37).

Furthermore, it was a great reminder to me that life is full of desires and things we want, and they aren’t all bad or sinful. However, we have to understand that God has a time for everything. It gets hard to wait, especially when you have your mind made up and planned the who, what, when, where, and how. Still, as it is written, we may have our own plans, but God orders our steps and it is His purpose that will prevail and it will always be greater than expected  (Prov 16:9, 19:21). He knows the desires of our hearts, and will give them to us (Ps 37:4). Yet, we must delight in Him and His will first, so that we can know His voice when the answer is yes, no, or wait. Your desire may in fact be good, but I pose the question, is the timing bad? That’s answer can only come from God Himself, so don’t get discouraged. He wants to bless you, and truth be told, He already has. Talk to Him…What is He saying…to you?…

 

Lessons from Eden

GardenOfEden

One of the things I love about the Bible is the story aspect of it. The characters are so diverse, the plots are so intricate, and the lessons learned are even more dynamic. Of those stories there is the one story that started it all, “The Garden of Eden.” It is in this story that the world changed forever, and the only other time such a change happened was the birth of Jesus. Still, there at the Garden, there is so much that meets the eye, so many angles to look, and so many lessons to be learned. For the sake of this post, we’ll look at one.

The Devil still uses the same tricks as he did back in Eden today, because they still work. One of which is ungratefulness. Let’s just say, for example, there were 100 different trees in the garden. One hundred different trees, each with a different fruit or whatever element can grow on trees, and they were pretty too (Genesis 2:9). Looking at that alone, I can’t even name 50 different trees or the food that grows on them. However, out of the 100, God specifically said don’t eat of one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17).  Now, if Eve (since she was tricked first) would have realized that she already had access to the other 99 trees and would’ve been grateful with that fact alone, she wouldn’t have ate the one tree she wasn’t supposed to. Likewise, many people today, we lose sight of the many great blessings that we do have and the value in them. Then, in some way or another the Devil comes in and shifts our focus to the one thing that we don’t have and often don’t need, we lose sight and forget the blessings we already have, which is far more compared to what we don’t have. When the temptation or lust, if you want to call it, gets strong enough, we are led to do things we know we shouldn’t do and we many times compromise and we get ourselves into situations that God didn’t want us in in the first place. The lesson here is that God knows what’s best for us in our lives, and what’s best to fulfill our purpose. We don’t. We must be grateful always for what the Lord has blessed us with, be happy with those who God blesses as well (Romans 12:15), and remember what God has for us is for us.