Need a little encouragement in the middle of your week? Start your Wednesday's off right! Renew your spirit and refresh your soul.
Do you ever wake up in the morning and think " I'm going to do it today, I am going to eat healthy all day and from now on"? "No cheating today!" And then you get to work and someone brought donuts for their birthday and you think "okay, just one won't hurt." And then it was soooo good you have just one more. I think we have all waged this battle with healthy eating a time or two. We just can't seem to win the war in our minds to not give into the temptation. Our intentions are so good and we want to be disciplined so bad, yet we just can't seem to muster the strength to not give in.
Just the same we all experience this battle spiritually. We want to do good and avoid sin. We want to live right by God's commands, yet we easily are subdued when temptation is dangled in front of our faces. Paul understood this struggle well and explains how we can overcome the temptations. When we became believers, Jesus gave us two things: power and freedom. When we are rooted in Him, we have the supernatural power of the holy spirit within us to fight our battles with us. To help guide us when our strength is just not enough to fight sin. And when temptation gets the best of us we have freedom. We are free from guilt and shame, because of what Jesus has already done for us. As long as our hearts belong to Him, we always have the freedom of forgiveness.
So just like when the sweet sugary goodness wins the food battle, or against our better judgement, we gossip about that coworker of ours, don't let the heaviness of shame rule your mind. Be set free by the sacrifice Jesus made for you and for me. He loves us unconditionally, even when we are sinning. He knows our hearts have the best intentions at the core.