When You Stumble

What happens when you sin

Okay so, you have given your life over to God. You have found out that after receiving this free gift, you have to get going. Now here is where some people are going to get caught up. Although you should not just stand there with your hands in your pocket waiting on GOD to do everything for you; as well, you should not make an all-out sprint towards some imaginary finish line. Pace yourself. You should get going but don't burn yourself out either.

You are now moving at a steady pace towards sanctification, and to your surprise even though you were not trying to, nor did you want to, you messed up. You Sinned! Don't spaz out, don't get overwhelmed, don't go crazy, don't lose it. Whatever your reaction may be, keep in mind that you are not alone. Here is the absolute truth, there is not a person on earth today who hasn't been in your exact shoes. Romans 3:23 says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. In other words everyone has stumbled. Everyone has failed at one time or another with overcoming temptation and sin. Of course, you don't want to make a habit of continual sin, because that can put you in a really tricky place. (see Romans Chapter 1 various versions, as well as the Bible Commentary on the chapter) You do, however, need to understand that YOU ARE going to mess up. You will have to get up, dust yourself off, ASK GOD FOR FORGIVENESS, crucial step: identify where YOU made the mistake, (and be honest with yourself so that you can change it), and keep moving forward. I beg you, please don't miss the crucial step. You don't want to get into the habit of blaming others. Sometimes this can be a little difficult. I know it has been for me in the past, and honestly, sometimes I still struggle with it. Let me switch gears for a minute and give a personal example.

My truth: I have always been a kind person, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I am always perfect with that. Just like everyone else I do have a breaking point. It just takes a lot to get me there. With that being said, I go way too far for people sometimes, actually most of the time. I get taken advantage of often, and it is really hurtful. For some reason, it used to be difficult for me to not offer myself up on a platter into the hands of others. It's not that I was doing it for attention, or because I wanted something back. I just naturally have a desire to help in any way I possibly can, which has left me in some bad situations. Now that doesn't mean that I don't want someone to be there for me as well. I have struggled to try to get certain people to understand this fact. We all want and need people in our lives. We all want friends and loved ones that we can always depend on, the ones who will have our backs through it all. We may not see them every day, but we know they will be there for us when we need them. I am definitely blessed to have a handful of friends like that.

So back on track with my truth. When people would take advantage of me, I would blame them. It was like I never wanted to take my part in what was happening. I used to have the thought process of, well I'm being nice and kind, and they are just takers. Although this is a true statement, it's not actually their fault alone. True no one should be takers, selfish, only thinking of themselves, but on the other hand, being a Christian doesn't mean you have to be a doormat. I didn't know who I was, nor did I understand who's I was.

Here is what used to happen. I would allow so much that I would boil over and mess up. Not just that, but not knowing who I was in Christ, or who I belonged to, made it difficult to understand that there should be a balance. We are supposed to be Christ-like. I haven't come across anything so far in the Bible where Jesus was a doormat. Yes, He served in so many capacities, but He also took care of himself. Whenever there was a need, he would go off by himself for some alone time. There was a balance.

Mark 12:30-31 - Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 'The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

The scripture doesn't say love others more than you love yourself. It says AS you love yourself. The scripture also indicates there is no commandment greater than these. So are we actually sinning when there is no balance? Are we loving our neighbors as ourselves? I can't blame someone else because I allowed myself to get overloaded. I had to learn that I needed to establish a balance in my life. I'm so very thankful to GOD and my sister for helping me to have a tangible way to accomplish this. In a nutshell, she told me to make a schedule for myself. Make time for me as well as open time for others. Pencil ME in. If someone calls and needs something let them know when I would be available. The same way I would if I were doing something for 1 friend, and another called for something. I would typically say I can't at this very moment but I can get it done later today or this evening, or sometimes the answer has to be NO.

I needed to learn how to say NO sometimes, or not right now. Yes, I lost some friends when I first started implementing this into my life. People were so used to me putting their WANTS ahead of my NEEDS. They did not take it well when I said no, or I didn't do what they wanted me to do at that very moment. It's okay though, God has a way of moving people in and out of our lives, and we have to trust that He knows what's best. Everyone can't walk our journey with us.

This was a hard lesson for me to learn, and honestly, I messed up so many times. I kept missing the crucial point. Once I got out of my own way, I was able to see that I can't control someone else, but I can control what I allow someone else to do to me, how I respond to things, and what the next steps will be afterward. Whenever things would happen in my life, I would pray that God shows me, me! I wanted Him to reveal to me where I messed up. Here is another truth, God hears us and he will answer our prayers. (1 John 5:15, Jeremiah 29:12-13, Psalm 66:17-20) So if your prayer is that God reveals the crucial point, make sure you are ready for it. Don't let your pride get in the way. It will save you a lot of headache, pain, stress, and everything in between if you just trust God to help you with this important step.

Remember the steps:

• Get up

• Dust yourself off

• ASK GOD FOR FORGIVENESS - don't do the opposite as we often want to do

• (crucial step) identify where YOU made the mistake, and be honest with yourself

• Keep moving forward

Bonus: Oh and don't forget to forgive yourself. There are going to be some situations where we will need to forgive ourselves, and sometimes we have it confused with God forgiving us. Let me elaborate quickly.

Some sins can have us feeling so much guilt. We go through the above steps and for some reason we are still feeling stuck. The first thing we think is that God has not forgiven us. Take heart that our God is a forgiving God (Daniel 9:9, Ephesians 1:7-8, Colossians 1:13-14) as well, reflect back to Conversion and what happened on the cross. All of us should break out in praise for this reason alone. Know God gave us a free gift, and we can look forward to it in the future, as well as Jesus died for our sins, we are covered with HIS blood. That is the truth! So when we are still stuck, it's best to look to ourselves because that is where the culprit lies. We are most likely allowing satan the space to try to lie to us. We are letting that guilt keep us stuck. Although some people don't actually realize this, there is a really big difference between guilt and Biblical Conviction. Here is a link to an article that may help to shed some light on this matter. https://healingfromgod.com/difference-between-conviction-guilt/ There are many other helpful resources in this article that may be useful.

So, now that we have a handle on stumbling. It might be helpful to write down the steps, as well as, the bonus on a sticky note. Make sure to keep it somewhere that is easily accessible. Sometimes we can be so emotionally overwhelmed that the steps don't instantly come to mind. The sticky note can be a big help in times of need.

You can access the lesson When You Stumble on our Landing Page To access the lesson click on the link to our landing page, create a free account or log in, select the Series Life Is a Journey then click on the lesson that corresponds with this post. While you are there feel free to join our study group. Here are the Student Notes that corresponds with the lesson, as well as the Lesson Transcripts which includes definitions. I am also including all the Scriptures that were referenced in this blog.

As always I do pray that this information blesses your life just as it has blessed mine.

Please feel free to comment on this post. I would love to find out if it is helpful. Also, please let us know if you have any specific topics you would like us to cover.