When Sin Overwhelms: Take Heed

How often have you started a venture only to give up half way? I can't count the times when I've poured all my energy to a new project, then watch my initial excitement turn into drudgery. Suddenly, what was once fresh morphed into a chore.

Faced with boredom and dreariness, do you give up? I've often muttered, "It wasn't worth the effort anyway," instead of injecting fresh energy into the project.

What about our lives as Christians? This phenomenon can creep into our faith-filled lives and infect the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul warned: "Therefore let him who stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10: 12).

Instead of devoting yourself to God "with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37), you behave like the seed that fell among the thorns (Luke 8:4-8). You wither and fall away because the "cares, riches and pleasures of life" (Luke 8:14) have carried you far from Christ. Instead of bearing fruit, your life in Christ has become choked to the point of failure.

You're not the first to fall. Paul warns the Corinthian brethren: "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition" (1 Corinthians 10:11). Instead of pressing on to the Promised Land, the Israelites sinned in the desert. "There bodies were scattered in the wilderness" (1 Corinthians 10:5).

When faced with "cares, riches and pleasures of life" or when temptations threaten, remember God has promised a "way of escape." Paul said: "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able" (I Corinthians 10:13). Lean on God and "flee from idolatry."

Yes, life has a way of slowing you down. But remember God will help you to stay focused when sin threatens and the worries of life overwhelm you to the point of surrender. Paul said it best: "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). He focused on the "upward call," not on the things of this world. Look ahead, not behind, and fix your eyes on heaven.