We can be free from destructive conduct
I can’t think of a more liberating feeling than telling Satan, “I’m breaking up with you! You won’t control me any longer, because I found somebody else!” Do you agree?
Then why don’t we do it? Why do we take so long to end our relationship with Satan?
Jesus’ death on the cross makes it possible to die to sin and live for God, once and for all. “For the death [Jesus] died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.”
What does living for God look like? What choices and priorities would we have to change?
How different would we feel at the end of each day if we persevered in our quest to break away from behaviors that cause regret? Imagine our lives free from destructive conduct and negative thought processes – including the way we view ourselves. Imagine how making better choices would change the way our spouse sees us. The way our children see us.
Sometimes, it takes years to recover from the hurt and pain we suffer because of the consequences of our choices. As we cry out to God to get us back to where we once were (or where we long to be) emotionally, relationally or financially, we desperately hope we’ve finally learned our lesson. That we’re finally at the point where we no longer want to live for that sin. We pray we’ll finally choose, once and for all, to live for God.
If you haven’t reached the place of wanting to live for God, but wish you had, ask God to help you desire a deeper relationship with Him… to thirst for it. Ask your powerfully compassionate heavenly Father to show you His purpose for your life – and how your choices are keeping you from experiencing the life you could have. If making yourself accountable to someone will help, then please reach out to a caring friend or mentor and make this happen.
Consider meditating on God’s Word every day this week. Whenever I take the time to reflect on God’s Word, allowing it to transform my way of thinking, I gain a greater level of maturity and find the strength to experience greater victory in my battle with sin.
Best of all, I draw nearer to the One who shows me how to live the life He created me to live — for Him.
Sheryl H. Boldt, a Franklin County resident, is the author of the blog, www.TodayCanBeDifferent.net. Connect with her at SherylHBoldt@gmail.com.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.