Separated

God's intent for our lives is not for us to be influences a little by the things of God. We are told to abandon our our sinful lives and live passionately and ardently after Jesus. He wants all of you. We surround ourselves with so much filth from this world. But we are called to total separation from sin, nothing short of that. But really, you can just stay locked up in your room separated from everything for the rest of your life. It's pretty much impossible! But when you surround yourself with the love and peace of Jesus, He can and will fill your life! Sometimes it seems like God is so far away, but God never cuts Himself off from us. We are always the problem; something is holding us back.

Isaiah 59:2 (New International Version)

But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.

God cannot stand sin. He can't be around it. So when we indulge in that sin, and don't even try to stay away, God is isolated from us. My first thought is: How can we do that to God? When we sin, it's like we flaunt it in His face. We know He died for that sin; but we don't even care.

That makes me so sad that Jesus died this horrendous death to pay the penalty for our sin, and yet we still continue on that path.

But you know what makes me beyond happy? Is that even though we are born in our sin, when we become a child of God, we are made new once again!

2 Corinthians 5:17 (New International Version)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

I love this verse! It reminds me of the special gift God has given me: salvation. I have no words to express my gratitude to the Lord that He took my filthy heart, and made it pure and white with his blood.

Sometimes I feel so worthless, so bogged down in my sin, that I feel like there is no way Jesus would ever let me into heaven. But then I think about what God says in Jeremiah 31:3: I have loved you with an everlasting love. That just fills me with a peace beyond anything I can imagine. No matter what I do, God will always love me, and I can never lose my salvation! :) I pray that God will fill you with a peace and love that transcends all else; that helps you realize that whatever you have ever done, you are still precious in God's sight.

Your Sister in Christ,

Jessica