Often if not daily we look at our world in such a way that because of our human perception being so tainted and sinful that through this false understanding and our view of reality we feel hopeless, abandoned, and lost. Yet as Christian's we should be encouraged through our faith and trust in Jesus Christ along with His promise that we are to not worry and that we must remain vigilant in our quest and to be a greater part of His will. Even so, with all of that having been said we must still in so many ways look pretty pathetic.
We are reminded of this by the account of Peter in Matthew 14:29-30 “And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.” How even Peter had doubted the Lord became overwhelmed with his own fear and began to sink. Yet this lesson is encouraging to me and in many ways it proves the very nature of our human condition and our weakness while in the flesh. It also proves just how much we need to continue our trust and faith in the Lord. Putting this perhaps into a different perspective or understanding it also causes one to wonder how Peter himself could have doubted Jesus when He had seen and witnessed so much. I often wonder with all of the miracles which he and the other disciples had witnessed, and with them being in close and personal fellowship while with the Lord. One might even say that he was perhaps weak and even foolish in his response. Yet we are each reminded of our own weakness, and that indeed we too are much if not completely the same as Peter.
I know that Jesus died and paid the price for all of my sins past, present, and future. But when I sin it makes me want to vomit. But I do know this, when I sin it reveals certain things to me that helps me look at my sin as me personally nailing Jesus to the cross. The sin which I never felt much remorse today reminds me that every time I sin that I was the one who caused pain and suffering for our Lord and Savior. Through this understanding I take personal responsibility for His very death.
We are taught that we are not to beat ourselves up with condemnation (or better not cause our doubt to become sin). But I feel we must understand just how bad our own sin is. Ultimately through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit in our lives we gain Godly insight. This intimacy also sheds light on just how much we truly need a savior. And what it is that He offers through our gift of salvation, and why I feel as not being worthy of His gift. Here is where I feel we must discern these thoughts into action and why our walk must be diligent and why we must reach out to others.
Our thoughts both conscious and unconscious and even our own emotions are part of a type of slipstream and it seems that the more we have dabbled in sin the more difficult it is to escape from its deadly clutch. While I was in the military it seems that nearly everyone swore. We used curse words much in the same manner which normal people use normal language including adjectives, adverbs, verbs, participles, nouns, pronouns etc. We interlaced certain cuss words in place of every type of English word purpose and meaning. As we swore in some ways we thought that our swearing was what made us tough.
I will never forget the day that I was finally confronted by a Senior Sergeant (NCO) and he said something to me that really caused me to think. He said, “Chuck, you swear a lot,” he then went on to ask me why I swore. He went on to say “you are a pretty intelligent guy, and yet when you swear, are you aware of how much it makes you sound ignorant?” I don't know if he had planned it yet that simple and effective dialog though was not the end-all of my swearing. But it truly put my swearing into perspective and made me much more aware of how much I actually swore. It had caused me at least to think, and perhaps in some ways even curtailed my vulgarity. Sort of a type of conditioning towards became righteously saved. And by this I mean after I began to repent of my sin. And asked, even prayed that Jesus Christ would become a greater part of my life. I still swear, not nearly as often, and not using the same types of words, yet I still use what we call light swearing. Which is still a sin as far as I am concerned. I won't say which words as these are not the point, the point is the spirit of the words. And this means that nearly any word can be used as a curse word if our spirit is not right. And that's all I have to say about that.
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