Faith on High
Going to church always recharges my level of faith. I tend to be apprehensive about staying for reflection groups after the sermon, because I don’t know very many people. Today I stayed, despite not having the comfort of a friend to default to. I ended up meeting five new Christians in my reflection group and we shared thoughts, reflections, and laughs. I always receive a surge of motivation for my faith from these positive church experiences and they really help me remember why I started attending to church to begin with.
The sermon today (based on Genesis 34:1-31) focused on the sins in Spiritual and Moral Passivity, Sin in times of Anger, and God’s Justice. These were the key points that resonated with me:
1) Keep and follow your vows to God (i.e. “God if you do this for me, I promise to do this”) - Be quick to do what you’re told to do
2) “In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” - Ephesians 4:26-27 - I want to start a habit of reflecting on my day every night before I go to sleep and cleansing the angers from my heart with forgiveness.
3) We are not called to make judgment on others - Don’t fool yourself into believing you are better than everyone else.
4) Don’t justify your vengeful actions as “God’s will” - Vengeance will be served by God. “Do not take revenge, but leave room for God’s wrath.” - Romans 12:17
5) What should you do when you feel a severe wrong has been committed against you? Throw coals on their head of course! “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” - Romans 12:20
6) Remember that Christ showed love to his enemies and died for all sinners even though they wronged him, betrayed him, condemned him, tortured him, and spit on his face. It is our calling to imitate Christ and live a holy life. ”Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” - Romans 12:21
7) Christ paid for our sins by dying on the cross. It is by his death that we are saved, not our own actions. We cannot believe that we are more righteous - that we are the instruments of God’s wrath - when we deserve the same punishment as any other sinner.
8) Check yourself before judging others (aka “Check yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self).
9) Do not fall into spiritual or moral passivity, where you temporarily disregard God for your own pleasures. In everything you do, ask “Is God with you?”
