When someone we love falls into a sin that is destroying your life, theirs and all that around you what should you do? We seem to take the wrong approach on it.
One of the first things we do is rationalize it. We find every way to justify it in our mind. We will say oh well its not that bad or it is not as bad as it can get so I can take more of it. Doing that is wrong, it is allowing sin to continue without correction or consequences. Christ never rationalized sin and neither should we.
After things don’t change at all we get tired of what is happening and consider giving up. We say they are hopeless or that things will never be the same. What we are doing by this is failing to have faith that God can work in that persons life in this area. When God looks at us he sees someone who is full of hope.
Things that change fast usually don’t last. When we see some change we get hope and tend to think “its all better now”. If it changed so quickly then how do you know it is genuine? People can put on an act for a time but all things will be exposed one day. Time will test to see if it is the real thing or not. However when we see something we should not just ignore it. We should look for the good things about it. Then watch to see if it is a lasting result or not. Are there more results than just one? Step back and observe. Find out what other people see, are they seeing the same thing as you? That does not mean tell them what you see then ask what they see
Don’t just run from every trial that comes your way. Some things that can encourage you are as follows. When you are doing good for the Kingdom of God the evil one will fight you. Trials make you stronger. When you stop and think trials are good. We should be thanking God for the because they glorify Him no matter the outcome.
Don’t focus on the past. When you focus on the past you cant see where you are headed. Think of it like this. If you were to get in your car and start driving down the road with traffic and decided to keeping going forward but you decided that you should only look in the rearview mirror. You would hit all sorts of things without even realize that is what you were going to do. It causes a mess for all those around you. Look forward and keep your focus on the good not on the bad. If you focus on the bad you will end up just seeing what you want to see and miss the great gift of live you have been given. You should want to see the most and take it all in. when you go on a trip do you just stay in the hotel the whole time? Of course not you get out and see as much things as possible. Life in general should be the same way.
Something else that we should be doing is not focusing on other peoples wrongs. You have more than enough wrongs in your life that you should not be worried with other peoples. Work on your own more than those around you. If all you do is work on others what will you have to show at the end of life? Your life will still be a mess but others will have been a little better. You need to keep an eye on your life first.
Remember we are fallen beings. Our tendency is to do whatever it takes to escape painful or trying circumstances, to fix our problems and direct our lives as we see fit. As we see fit is not as God sees fit most of the time.
I hope this got you thinking.
