This week we get to hear from Brittney Basalious. Be sure to stop by the contributors page to learn more about her.
After reading these verses, I knew I wasn’t ok.
These verses were terrifying for me. Once I learned Who God was, and that He can’t lie, I accepted that these words are true. God’s Word, His Truth, and His promises are eternal, and won’t change. I had a problem. I didn’t fit into the criteria of those who would inherit the kingdom of God.
I stood before my judge, God, condemned but He still gave me grace.
I’m going to use my life and compare it to the word of God to see if someone like me, (while in my sins) would enter Heaven according to the Bible. Let’s break down verse 9, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites . . . “
I was a fornicator, idolater, adulterer at heart, and had homosexual encounters.
Within one verse from the book of 1 Corinthians, I stood guilty before God. Obviously, the Bible is written for the believer in Christ Jesus. THIS IS GOOD NEWS. Why? First off, someone who doesn’t believe in God wouldn’t even be reading the bible, and trying to figure out what God desires. He is already on the path to destruction and doesn’t care. If you are actively seeking to be right with the Lord at all times, (like I was learning to when I first understood these verses), then God is moving you to be Holy, which simply means to be set apart FROM the world and TO God.
I believed in Christ, and I wanted to live for Him but I was stuck in sin.
When I first starting following Christ, I didn’t know the bible. All I knew was that He was real, He saved me, and I felt so guilty every time I wasn’t living for Him. I was still watching porn, sleeping with boyfriends, lying, and living for myself truly. It was only by reading the Word of God that I was able to change. My soul was being washed every time I read the Bible.
Jeremiah 33:8
I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.
Essentially, I was trying to be a Christian without repentance. The Bible says we must repent to enter the kingdom. See Acts 3:19, Matthew 9:13, Matthew 4:17, Acts 17:30, Mark 1:15, and Luke 5:32. I would feel so guilty because I would want to be right with God but kept failing. Every time I put forth effort to live God’s way, something inside of me changed. I wanted to walk in the light and even started exposing my failures to other believers with a desperate desire for help.
1 John 1:7
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
After my sin, repent, repeat cycle got beyond frustrating, I wanted out of sin forever. No one is perfect, and God is constantly pulling us out of sins we aren’t even aware of doing, but I wanted to stop willfully sinning. I believed on Jesus Christ, I was baptized, reading the Bible regularly, and going to church. I was missing one thing – genuine repentance.
The Lord is so gracious, although I wasn’t meeting the criteria of Heaven, He showed me no one does. God was cleaning me, changing my heart, and conforming me to be like Jesus. He was, and is fulfilling His Word through my life.
This is the beautiful thing about God – only He can change us and show us what is truly right. All it is takes is surrender. All it takes is a broken heart, desiring to please Him, and fleeing from what isn’t Christ like. It doesn’t matter what sin you’re into, He’s not afraid of it. He doesn’t think you’re dirty nor unredeemable. All you need to do is repent. Change your old way of thinking, throw away all the pornography, delete all the hook-up contacts, separate yourself from people who use, and surround yourself with people walking in the light. What if I fail you ask? Will God forgive me? Here is my answer for that.
I John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Proverbs 24:16-18
For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again.
Psalm 86:5
For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
Psalm 32:5
I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Recent Comments