Who is Your Audience?

"Take heed you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise?

Does he who implanted the ear not hear?

Does he who formed the eye not see?

Does he who disciplines nations not punish?

Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?

The Lord knows the thoughts of man..."

Psalm 94: 8-11

I read this verse and thought "In your face!...to people who think they can get away with wickedness and evil and think no one is watching them!" Sometimes it gets so frustrating watching what looks like the wicked prosper and nothing ever happen to them. Then you see really good people with hearts burning for the Lord and they have so many trials and tribulations you are in awe of their faith!

But then I think, I am only human which means sin is still an inherent part of my nature. Sure I am a new creation in Christ and live under grace but the temptation to make bad choices and sin is still there and it will always be there!  Most of the time I think our sin is done in secret. Especially those who are Christian, because God forbid anyone seeing on Sunday morning that we don't really have it all together. We all struggle and we all sin. But what we neglect to remember at times is that sin truly does separate us from God. We can't be in right standing with him or at least appear to be and have a heart full of dirty sin. 

A bigger question we should ask ourselves when we are tempted to sin is "Who is our audience?" Whether we want to realize it or not we have one! It may not be in public or in front of our group of bible study ladies or our pastor, but it may be in front of our spouse or our children. It could be witnessed in front of our "other" friends that we don't go to church with. It could be in the secrecy of our own home where we think, no one is there, no one is watching.

Oh but how naive we are! Someone is watching and someone is always listening! God, the Father, Himself, He is watching and he knows. The above scripture references the God who created our eyes and ears...he sees and hears us at all times. The God who disciplines will punish and the God who created man and the very inventor of wisdom...is not stupid! He knows our thoughts, our desires, our sins past and present. He knows our weaknesses and our "triggers"- those things that could easily throw us into a tailspin of backsliding. He knows where we fall short and the pits we so easily dig for ourselves. This isn't news to Him. But this may be news to you. You especially don't want it to be news to you on that final day when you go before the Lord and he may look at you with your false proclamation of being a so called "Christian" and say those dreaded words..."Depart from me, I knew you not." No one wants to hear that and I certainly don't want you to either.

I have never written a blog on salvation but here it is. If you have been a follower of my blogs or are reading this for the first time, please know that there is a remedy for the disease of sin. Jesus Christ died on the cross for us and took our place because the Bible explains that the wages of sin is death! But God loved us too much to create us and just watch us go to hell without putting up a fight for those He loves most dearly. You see we were created to worship and fellowship with Him. He allowed Jesus to become the one and only sacrifice for our sins. So all we have to do is believe it, receive it, and ask God to rid us of our sin and instead ask Him to reside in our hearts.

What a lot of people don't explain is that after that we need to do OUR best to get rid of the sin in our lives. For some people, bondages of sin like pornography or even simple things like cigarette smoking are broken immediately. For others it is a process, I have said it before and I'll say it again. God is a God of processes. Sometimes you need that extra time in His word and leading of the Holy Spirit to rid yourself of things that no longer have a place in your life. The important thing to remember here is you are not alone! He is with you! Plug yourself into a good spirit-filled church, make some friends who will rally around you and support you in your new walk with the Lord.

If that is you, make this prayer yours today...

Heavenly Father, thank you for the sacrifice of your son, Jesus, who took my place on the cross. I ask you to come into my heart and help me get rid of everything that does not need to be there. Walk with me, talk with me and lead me into a new beginning, a fresh start...with you. In Jesus name, I pray...Amen!

 How Many Kings? by Downhere