Be a Hater

I had a friend who used to sell *special* gummies to teachers.  A girl I went to church with in high school got a boob job at sixteen.  Another friend from church got his girlfriend pregnant but his wealthy family pressured her to get an abortion.  Did you know that the manager of that bookstore has had four affairs but his wife doesn't know about any of them?  My best friend used to sleep with her teacher. 

Yessss girl!  Didn't you hear about all that?!  Lemme tell you...

Drawn in?  Yeah.  The problem is, not all of those things are true.  Do you know which ones are?  

Neither do I really because even the ones that are stories I really heard, none of them are my story so I really have no idea how much truth is in any of them.  But man oh man can I tell you a tale that you will just eat up.  Why?  Because gossip is juicy and easy. 

Did you judge the people in the stories or me for gossiping?  Most likely, the people in the stories.  Girl, same. 

It's so much easier to judge people and hate sins that aren't ours.  Just because I'm not doing drugs or sleeping with someone other than my husband doesn't mean my sins are any less than theirs.  We tend to be very comfortable with the "minor" sins, like gossip, over eating, drinking too much, flirting around the office, spending tons on ourselves while giving nothing to others.... yeah.  Those are just as bad as anything else you can think of.  

Why?

Because every one of them separate us from God. 

When we allow anyyyything to come between us and God, it's too much.  We keep thinking that because it's not super hurtful or because it feels small that we aren't as guilty.  We are the thief on the cross!  We are the murderer in need of redemption!  One sin is all it takes to make us need Jesus's blood to cover us so we can have a relationship with God.  Not ten, not a sexual sin, not an ethical sin... one.  One sneaky text.  One soda we didn't pay for at self-checkout.  One extra item for our house on the company's expense report.  That's it.  

So how do we avoid those "little" sins?  Because we are sinful creatures living in a broken world, we're not going to avoid them all.  We just aren't.  But that doesn't mean we can't try.  

First, we need to really acknowledge what our little sins are.  My biggest one?  You already read it.  Gossip.  I love a good tale, as long as it's not about me.  I hate being the subject of gossip, so why in the world do I participate.  Great question.  I wish I knew!  All I know is that I keep trying to keep my mouth shut one more time today than I did yesterday.  

Second, we need accountability.  (Totally digging the alliteration of acknnowledge and accountability.)  Who are you confessing your sins to that is going to hold your ass accountable?  Yeah it needs to be that strong.  It needs to be someone who is going to look at you and all your ish and call you out in all the strong ways.  It does you no good to pick someone who is going to be comfortable with your sin, too.  Why is this one so important?  James 5:16 tells us to do this because the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and we need those prayers to help us heal from our sin's hold and hurt. 

We have to move from just avoiding our sins or even just disliking our sins to being absolute haters.  We have to hate every one of our sins.  

Every.  One. 

Ready for your hater homework?  

-Acknowledge:  make a list of your sins and read it aloud to yourself three times.  Let it break your heart.  Humble yourself and as Jesus for forgiveness from those sins.  Underline your hardest to conquer sins and ask Jesus to help you depend on Him for strength the next time temptation arises. 

-Accountability: name one or two friends you can share your list with and then call them and share it.  Ask for strong accountability and establish how and when they'll check in.  Remind them that they're now on the hood for you and for praying over you.  Then, be prepared to listen humbly when they come and tell you that you're effing it up.  

-Read Proverbs 28:13 and use that as your motivation as you find it difficult to confess sins to your accountability partner(s).  

If you want some extra prayer coverage, feel free to email me because girl, I'm on that struggle bus, too.