A Rebel No More

We All Sin (Yes, Even Us Christians) As I navigate my new life as a follower of Jesus, one thing really sticks out to me—and I felt a strong nudge to share it because, in my opinion, it’s super important. We all sin. We were born into sin. We naturally sin because that is our nature. If you don’t believe me, just watch a baby or toddler. No one has to sit them down and teach them how to be selfish, lie, or throw a full-blown meltdown over a snack. Our flesh doesn’t need training—it was born this way. Sin entered the world when Eve used her free will and gave in to deception from the serpent, eating the forbidden fruit. Adam—yes, her husband, who probably should have stepped in and said, “Hey babe…maybe don’t take the bait”—also used his free will and ate the fruit. God clearly told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Once they did, sin entered the world. Everything broken in this world traces back to sin: sickness, adultery, lies, cheating, harming our...

 Sitting here staring at a blank screen, trying to figure out what to blog about. I sit quietly and wait for the Holy Spirit to tell me what we are writing. So… here I am, sitting patiently—and for those who know me, you know I am NOT a patient person. Naturally, I do what I probably shouldn’t and reach for my phone to scroll Facebook. That’s when I came across an article about Brandon Lake giving a “speech” after accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award for his impact on contemporary Christian music. He said this: “If life has given you more than most, then give more than most. No man should store up fortunes while children sleep hungry. What you hold in excess is not truly yours—it belongs to those who suffer.” Go ahead, read that a few more times if you need to. I know I did. Can you imagine the looks on the billionaires’ faces or what went through their minds? The article went on to say that eyewitnesses noted several billionaires—one being Zuckerberg—sat in silence. No smile. ...

  But God! I am totally in my feelings right now. I haven’t shared my testimony yet, but… spoiler alert: it took me about 30 years to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Thirty years!! I did ask Christ into my life when I was around 16, but I definitely didn’t live a life that resembled Him. If I’m being honest (and humility matters here), I was serving the world and doing a whole lot of things that had nothing to do with Jesus. James 1:22–25 tells us not to just hear the Word, but to be doers of the Word. That means living like Jesus—loving one another, helping each other, listening, and not condemning. Jesus didn’t come to condemn us, so guess what? We aren’t called to condemn either. Matthew 22:37–40 tells us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and to love our neighbor. And not just your next-door neighbor. In Hebrew, there are two meanings for “neighbor”: the one who lives next door and neighbor as humans in general . That means all of us. Every sing...