remember 2 things…

there are 2 things to learn from noah’s mistake…

#1 remember that our sins don’t remove our victories. did the fact that noah sinned and got drunk, did it mean that him building the ark didn’t mean anything anymore? of course not. GOD had still used him to save a world. so our sins do not remove our victories. they make us feel sometimes like they’re not victories but the sins do not remove the victories in our lives.

i’ve noticed that whenever we have SPIRITual highs in our lives, satan always tempts us. do you know when i have some of my greatest temptations? it is on my mondays. the day after i had some of my greatest victories. satan knows when we are the most vulnerable.

you have a great SPIRITual high. then after that you think, “i’ll never sin again, i feel so close to GOD!” then you go out and you might even actually sin again. and you think, “how could i have done that? i got a glimpse of who GOD really is. how could i have done that?” satan says, “you didn’t learn anything about GOD. this mistake wipes out every good thing that you’ve learned.” that’s the temptation that comes to your heart.

that’s not true. don’t buy it. go back, ask for forgiveness of your sin, confess it to GOD and tie in again to what GOD has done and keep growing.

it’s sort of like going up a mountain with some little dips in it. you go up the mountain and then you go down into a little dip. when you’re in this little dip you feel like you’re down at the bottom of the mountain because you went down a little. but GOD knows you’ve come a long way. get going again and go back up the mountain of growth and faith. that’s what’s happening in our lives. our sins don’t remove our victories.

#2 remember that our victories don’t remove our sins. the victory of CHRIST on the cross removed our sin, the sin that’s upon all of us. we’re no longer accountable for that. but you can’t rely on past victories for today’s faith. you can’t rely on what happened last week to keep your life and relationship with the LORD fresh today. you can build on it, grow through it, and look to it. but you can’t rely on it. you and i have got to rely on our living relationship with CHRIST today.

just a thought from the front porch…