Hello everyone,

Wow!!!! I can’t believe summer break is over. I mean, when did summer even start at all? So we have to get back to school and start facing reality. Mehn!! I hope you all had a wonderful summer break. Hope you were able to catch up on the sleep and fun activities you wanted to with the vacation. I also hope you were able to achieve at least one thing over this break. For some people, school has started, for someone like me, a day like today makes me fully realize school is about to begin. Today is the new student’s orientation in my school and I just know I’m about to resume classes. I love it tho.

Now that we have fully established that summer is over, let’s get down to business. Today’s post has been on my mind for a while now. Probably based on recent conversations that I’ve had with friends over the course of two weeks, or because I realize that as humans, we tend to follow some patterns. I think it also just seemed really clear when I was helping to fill out a survey and one of the questions turned out to be one of the questions on my mind. How often do we struggle with things that we feel are beyond our control? What do we do when we find ourselves doing things that we promised ourselves never to do again? Do we have people we can pour out our hearts to when we go through things? Do we automatically become sin-free the moment we give our lives to Christ? I apologize if these questions seem to be a lot, but my thought process kind of involves asking a whole lot of questions. I feel like these questions and many more are important for all believers to consider. The Bible records that for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This Bible verse is true for everyone who is born into the world. However, for true believers, Jesus has come to make things right. This is why you have been promised that though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18). 

Jesus came for the main purpose of reconciling us with God. When we truly accept Him, He makes it easy for us to live a sin-free life. The mistake we almost always make as Christians is assuming that we can change on our own. Giving your life to Christ is only one of the steps necessary to live the life of a believer. I recently learned that faith is sharing responsibility with God. Now hold on, I know you’re wondering if that statement makes any sense, just wait while I explain it. I mean, I’m the one who needs to have faith in a God I do not see right? So how am I sharing that responsibility with God? Well, sharing responsibility with God means that you believe that God will give you what you ask for, but you also have to work towards it. You know how our parents always tell us to do well in school, and we will get a gift afterward? That’s just how it is with God. You can’t pray for good grades and not attend classes or study. It’s important that you play your part. So, when we give our lives to Christ, we have to be active participants in turning our lives around. We can’t say that giving our lives to Christ means there will never be temptations, we just have to trust in His power to overcome said temptations. Which is why He said, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33). Isn’t that just reassuring?
I’m a visual person, so I tend to paint pictures of things or make up stories in my head to understand things. Sometimes, I make connections in movies that I watch. I tend to have lots of “aha moments” while watching some movies. So let me paint a picture for you. I recently saw a movie where a girl assumed that getting baptized would automatically kill her selfish desires. Hmmmm, the statement, when the purpose of a thing is not established, abuse is inevitable, couldn’t be truer in her case. She didn’t understand the purpose of baptism or the role that she has to play in curbing those selfish desires. Skip to a few scenes later, she did something extremely selfish and she could not believe she was capable of doing that. So, she automatically assumed that there was a demon living inside of her. She resorted to exorcism because she did not believe she could do something like that after being baptized.

My point here is, you have to actively work with God if you want to get good results. Don’t be scared to ask for help from spiritual mentors, but beware not to turn them to your standard for how a Christian should live their lives. Jesus is the only standard for all Christians.