Throw Off the Old Coat...

I don't know about you, but every time I think I have everything figured out (life, husband, kids, people in general), the rug is yanked out from under me, and, falling to the ground, I think to myself, "How did I get into this mess?"

Such is the way of the last few days as I have tried with all my might to solve my "problem." Don't ask me what my problem is because I don't know. I have just been carrying on as if I have a problem for a long enough period of time to be annoying. Being the theological giant that I am, I have determined to give my problem a name--sin.

All of us fall into the trap of sin, and it can be very subtle. This is the old coat, the one we received through Adam which has been passed down for generations. Generations of people who thought they had it figured out, but held tightly to the rag of iniquity.

On our class blog (livingpr00f), Mike posted an excerpt from an article by Andree Seu as taken from World Magazine. I like what he posted, but I wanted to add one sentence that spoke to me. Seu writes, "I discovered that discouragement is a choice I make and not something that happens to me." We make the choice to sin, and we have a choice to be forgiven in the new coat of the cross of Christ. If you know in your very heart that you are forgiven--repent and rejoice! I had to be reminded to let the cross be my place of security, not my sin.

If you find yourself discouraged, dissatisfied, discontent or depressed, acknowledge it for what it is--sin. These things come out of making ourselves our idol. Don't stumble, as Israel did, over the purpose of the cross.

'"...but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed."' (Romans 9:31-33)