Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

~Hebrews 2:14-15 (New International Version, ©2011)~

I was finally watching the movie, 2012 the other night and it occurred to me that this wasn’t such a far-off premise.  I’ve been pretty much avoiding the idea that the end of our world could be closer than we thinkg, but I should probably start taking that notion a bit more seriously.  Of course, no one likes to acknowledge the truth that is either unwittingly or even accidentally portrayed in movies from time to time.  To do so would appear naive and immature.  But the fact is that the depiction of the destruction that this film included was so compelling and so devastating that I began to wonder if I was really anywhere near being ready.  I mean, am I now living my life in a way that glorifies God?  Am I still stuck in the ways of the flesh?  Am I not getting something?  The truth is, I feel great.  Since I opened my heart to God, I feel better than I’ve felt in my whole life.  Other than this overwhelming sensation that I am now being overtaken by something so much greater than any feeling I have ever known, a love that is so strong and so complete that it completely floods my soul and can only be expressed at this point with tears of joy.  I feel so good about where I am in my walk with God that I have absolutely no idea why I put myself through such torture staying mad at Him all these years.  For that reason, while I am a little unsettled at the prospect of the end of the world, the task of preparing myself for it seems so much less daunting than the task of preparing others. 

How do you get people to understand that it does matter what we do here?  How do you take away that attitude of justification when it is so engrained in our society that most people don’t even realize what they are condoning by simply watching a certain movie or listening to a certain song?  I was talking to my sister the other day and we were discussing my aversion to all things that displayed unnecessary sexual content.  She claims it is an “art” thing and that since I don’t necessarily lean towards theater, I just don’t get it.  Surely, I don’t get it.  My argument is that not only are we poisoning our minds with these things if we sit and watch movies about exotic dancers and strippers and prostitutes; we are perpetuating sin.  Even if we simply look the other way and don’t say anything one way or the other about movies with this type of content, we are not showing love to the people who are portraying sin on the other side of that screen.  If we were, we’d call sin a sin and we wouldn’t applaud their attempts to “entertain” with it.  I’m sorry, I really don’t get it.

So many people are afraid to confront sin when they see it and in doing so, show so little faith in God.  Standing by idly as a Christian who refuses to acknowledge the presence of sin is just as bad as the sinning itself.  It’s not okay and it’s okay to have an opinion about it.  When I think about the lengths that some women go to to get famous, I can’t help but wonder, “If that were my daughter, would I be proud of her?  If not, how can I possibly think that God would be?”  Now, I’m not what I consider to be a prude.  Others may disagree, but I’ve gone through my season of sin and I’m so glad to be free from that kind of life.  While I wasn’t a stripper or a prostitute, I didn’t value myself enough to act like a woman of good moral character.  And please don’t take this as my being judgmental.  I have always been a strong opponent of women using their bodies as a way to make money.  In no way does this glorify the woman and in absolutely no way does it glorify God.  Sure, most women who do these things don’t necessarily call themselves (nor are they interested in calling themselves) Christians, but that doesn’t make it okay for them to stay in that pit. 

I am starting a Women’s Empowerment Group this month and I’m hoping that our group can begin to mentor women who have had difficulty overcoming their past and present obstacles to success.  It is my goal for each women to come through this group with a better understanding of who she is in Christ and why she is worth more than she will ever know.  I hope that we can link women to mentors who can help them to sharpen skills they didn’t even realize they had and begin to work toward a life they can be proud of; one of service and love for Jesus Christ.  It seems like a lofty goal, but I know so many wonderful, wonderful women who don’t know their own worth.  I’ve met so many who kept themselves down because it was familiar and not necessarily because it was their only option.  I’m hoping that through fellowship and sharing our experiences and talents, we can begin to work through self-sabotaging behaviors and reach self-actualization.  Praise God, I know this can be done. 

When I look back on this life, I want to feel as though I’ve done everything I was called to do and then some.  I want to feel as though God would be proud of what I’m doing at all times.   The women in my life have always been very important to me and I hope that we can all work together to be sure that He knows we want to do right by Him.  I used to love the old Garth Brooks song, “If Tomorrow Never Comes.”  I always sang it a little differently, but I never realized that I could have been talking about God and not necessarily just any old “him.”  If tomorrow never comes, will He know how much I loved Him?  Did I try in every way, to show Him every day that He’s my only one?  For a long time, I know that I didn’t.  I can only hope that in the time I have left on this earth, I won’t be afraid or ashamed to lift Him up as He deserves to be lifted. 

For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’

~Revelation 7:17 (New International Version, ©2011)~

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