Welcome to the Set Your Mind Above podcast, where every day, ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths! I am your host BJ Sipe, and I’m so glad you’ve tuned in today! I am excited to share my life & my faith with you, and I sure hope you’ll do the same with me along the way.
Sometimes life can get so busy that you get so focused on the big things that the little things just slip through the cracks. We’ve all been there before, right? Family stress, health concerns, work related issues, these kinds of things can command our attention and suddenly we find ourselves forgetting about things we would normally stay on top of. We forget to respond to a text, an email, or even miss an appointment. Well, we experienced that recently but with something a little more pressing than a missed text or email. Life has been insanely busy as of late. We have had a lot of people coming and going at our house, we had our trip to North Carolina, and in addition have had a lot of family concerns on both sides for the past month. As a result, I completely let something fairly important slip my mind. I realized it as we were driving on our weekend get away when I stopped to pump gas. I walked around the car and was casually looking at the back of our car when my tag on my license plate caught my attention: 5/21. Oh no…I knew I was forgetting something. I forget to renew our vehicles registration. I could not believe it. I drove nervous the rest of the trip, worried at any moment that I would get pulled over and given a massive ticket. Once we got to her parent’s house, I tried to renew it online but that was not allowed since it was late already. I was going to have to do it in person once we got home. Well, the very first opportunity I had to fix the registration since we got home was today. So hopefully by the time you are listening to this, I have fixed the situation and renewed our registration so I can drive legally again. I felt so bad that I let it slip, and immediately determined to rectify the situation as soon as possible. But I want you to consider if that was not my immediate response. Imagine for a moment if I let it go for months and was pulled over sometime in the future. The police officer walks up to my window and says, “Do you know why I pulled you over today?” I respond and say, “Oh yeah, my registration is expired, has been for some time. Who cares?” What do you think his response would be? Obviously, he would throw the book at me, as he should! You see, sometimes mistakes happen, and you find yourself in violation of the law. It is one thing to recognize that, own it, and try to fix it as soon as possible. It is an entirely different issue to continue in an unlawful practice having full knowledge of what it is you are doing. And yet sometimes people will do this with the hope that they will get away with it as long as possible, or even perhaps entirely all together. Thankfully, I am not that stupid, and make it my aim to live my life legally in every way. It’s a lot easier to just do it right, because if you don’t, you are constantly looking over your shoulder waiting for your choices to catch up with you.
While this is certainly true of the way we conduct ourselves in accordance with the laws of the land, this lesson is vastly more important to understand in the way that we conduct ourselves in accordance with the will of God. Consider this terrifying warning given to us in Hebrews 10:26-31, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” In our spiritual walk, every single one of us is going to make mistakes. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. However, there is a drastic difference between one who makes a mistake and humbly repents of what they have done and someone who continues doing what he knows is sinful and wrong for them to do. The apostle John would tell us that if we confess our sins that he is faithful and righteous to forgive us in 1 John chapter 1, but here the Hebrew writer could not be any clearer. If you continue in sin, having full knowledge of the truth and the will of God that what you are doing is wrong, the only thing you should expect to receive from God is not grace but judgement – and for good reason! To willfully transgress against the nature and holiness of God is to profane your covenant with God. Instead of bowing at the foot of Jesus, it is as though you are trampling him with your feet. You insult the Holy Spirit that had once lavished you with the grace of God. Paul himself would refute those who would behave in such a way, saying that by no means are we to continue in sin believing that grace would abound (Romans 6:1-2). Perhaps this applies to you, that there has been willful continuous sin in your life, but up to this point you have not been found out. Maybe you believe in some way that you’re getting away with it, because so far that’s how it feels. Make no mistake, you might fool others, but you can never fool God. “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7-8) You do not want to fall into the hands of the living God who executes justice and vengeance upon those who practice sin & that which is evil. If you have been living a lie, continuing in sin even though you know full and well that what you have been doing is wrong, repent. Make your life right with Christ, humbly come to him with a changed heart, that you might receive grace and not judgment.
Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Friday’s, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and weekly video sessions that are uploaded on Saturdays. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above!