Today I was in a new city I'd never been to before. I moved to the area yesterday but didn't get a chance to go anywhere until today. While I was out exploring I stopped in a store to grab a couple things. I in my normal style, I was doing quick laps trying to find everything on my list. Just as I was about to the aisle where I'd grab the last thing on my list I found myself behind someone with a severe limp. I didn't want the person to feel I was impatient towards them so I walked behind them until I could scoot around them without disturbing them. No joke only five steps after I walked around her another woman with a severe limp stepped out in front of me. I started to try to make my way around her and then I thought is this just a random coincidence, or is there something I'm missing and this is a way for my attention to be grabbed? Honestly, I don't know which one it was, but in that moment I paused and I prayed. I asked God if he had anything to say to me about this moment. He immediately said, "Carrie this is why I don't want my people to sin. When they sin it causes them to limp, it slows them down, and it keeps them from their destiny."
If you are about to quit reading please hang in there for another minute. It's almost become taboo to say the word sin. How dare you tell someone that they should or shouldn't do something. That infringes on their rights and freedom, right? I get it, I've been there. I valued "freedom" over everything else but what I know now is that what I was living in wasn't a true freedom. I was living in rebellion and fear, and anger and hurt. It looked free but it wasn't. My story is a long one, one of discovering myself, and discovering God. Honestly, at one point I hated God. I felt He had abandoned me. I felt like He was so very far, and like He was a cruel taskmaster who just wanted to suck the fun out of my life and offer little to nothing in return. If I had heard what God whispered to me today eighteen years ago I would have responded to Him or the person giving me the message that they were crazy if they thought I was open to hearing that.
Back to today and what I know now. Avoiding sin is not to prove our worth to God, and it's not to show how good or "holy" we are to other people. Sin is destructive. It steals from us. It steals our time. It steals our focus. It steals our joy. It often locks us into something that is so much less than what we were created for. If you look up the original meaning of the word sin it is actually defined as missing the mark. The point is this, God designed us to live really full lives, lives where we hit the bullseye every time. He wants wholeness, success, and beauty for us in every part of our lives. That is why He tells us to avoid sin, because it keeps us from the abundance He made us for. I won't list things to avoid. If you're interested in knowing what God says about sin in a really poignant way then I would encourage you to pick up a Bible and explore for yourself. It not only describes what can destroy us but it also talks about the remedy for a life of sin. It's found in the greatest lover you could ever know, Jesus. He came to redeem you from sin and to fill you with hope, grace, and peace. He wants to empower you to know Him and be like Him.
There's so much more to be said but let me leave you with this..... If you met someone who loved you with a love that was the fiercest love that you had ever known, a love that was completely selfless and centered on your very good, would you struggle if that person asked you to let go of some things because they were harmful to you? That's all God is doing when He tells us things to avoid. He's saying "I made you, I know you, and I have a brilliant life and future for you. Run from these things that I call sin, because they will trip you up and keep you from the incredibly astonishing life I have for you."
