Songs and Sinners

Romans 6:12-13, “Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

Ahh – the sweet release of thoughts and emotions as they hurl themselves out of my head! It has been too long since I have taken the time to write or type out my thoughts. To say I have been busy would be the truest of understatements. So many things have been on my mind lately – things I have wanted to write about for my own personal benefit but more so to encourage those of you who are reading this. I was privileged to attend a Beth Moore conference in April that was hosted at my sister’s church in Tampa. The added time with my sisters, mom, nieces, nephew, AND brother-in-law was icing on the cake! (The list continues to grow!) Beth Moore is a phenomenal speaker who has tremendous insight into the Scriptures. How I hope to one day be used by God in a like manner that He has so graciously used her. Before I really begin digging into what I want to share with you, there are a few things you should know: The first being I LOVE to sing. I may not be the best at it, but let me tell you…if you pass me on the streets of Jacksonville – you can be sure my mouth will be moving to the beat of my ipod or radio. I am so thankful that God has given me a love for words; and I love to sing when the song is giving testimony of God’s grace, mercy, and power. The second thing you need to know is that I am not an avid tear dropper. No, I’m not cold hearted but I usually don’t cry at the drop of a hat; now onto my story. (Excuse my delay…as you can see my lack of tears is made up for with my abundance of words!) There was a very large crowd the first night of the conference. The auditorium was filled to the brim with women from the last seat in the balcony to the first row of pews. What a marvelous picture: a gathering together of believers, all in Jesus’ name, there for a sole purpose: to hear a word from God. The picture gets even greater when that very same crowd begins to sing songs of praise and adoration to our King! Hang in there; this is where the entire point of this rant all comes together. 3 songs that we sang that really allowed me to view what I was singing in a different light: Victory in Jesus, Strong and Mighty Tower, and In Christ Alone. As we began to sing these songs several emotions began to fill up within me to the point I was overwhelmed and convicted by the Holy Spirit. As I stood, surrounded by family and friends, the beautiful voices of God’s children were blaring honor to His name. Praises and words of adoration were catapulted to the roof all in His name. As the sweet sound echoed throughout my head, the only word I could think of was Heaven. To me, this, so miniscule and obviously puny, was a picture of Heaven. The sound filled my ears and I decided that this VERY sound was my favorite of ALL sounds. Why shouldn’t it be? As we moved into the next few songs and I sang the words, “Your name, is a strong and mighty tower, Your name is a shelter like no other, Your name, let the Nations sing it louder, nothing has the power to save, but Your name.,” the holy spirit immediately convicted me and tears filled my eyes and I began to cry. Overwhelmed? Excited? Rejoicing? Why would I be feeling depressed just after I said I caught a glimpse of Heaven? Broken, ashamed, and saddened by my sin. That’s where the tears came from. Listen guys, we are sinners. We are saved by the grace of God, if we so choose to accept Him, but we are still sinners. (Saved by grace!) I believe that we get so wrapped up in minimizing our sin that we forget that it was STILL our sin that placed Jesus on that Cross! Why doesn’t our sin place a burden on our hearts? When is the last time you found yourself in tears because of your sin? I dare to say that for so many, just like me, it is far less often than it should be. It’s time to hit the floor with our knees and THANK God for His grace…His unmerited favor. Let your sin bring you to tears. Because just like me, I’m guessing it’s about time they did.