One out of three women will be abused by their male partner at some point in their life. One in four men will be abused by their female partner at some point in their life. On average, these statistics show that nearly 20 people per minute are abused by an intimate partner in the United States alone. 100% of Christians will abuse God countless times in their life, just as a male or female would abuse their partner.
Let me break this down a little further for you. In my class the other day, we talked about ongoing sin. Ongoing sins are the sins that we keep hidden from everyone around us, praying that they do not find out our secrets. They are the sins that we say sorry to God for countless times, and then never change a thing afterwards. This is the vicious cycle of ongoing sins: Sin, Repent, Do it Again, Repent, and Repeat.
Doesn't this sound just like an abusive relationship with one's partner? There is an perpretator that hurts the victim, they say they are sorry and do anything they can to get them to stay and think they'll change, then they do it again, apologize more, and Repeat. So don't you see, by continuing to hold on to those ongoing sins in our lives, we are abusing the grace that God has given us. We expect His forgiveness, and therefore we think we can just keep on sinning and He will always forgive and love us afterward.
Although God will always love and forgive us, this does not give us the right to abuse that grace. God wants to see our heart change through repentance of our sins and break down entirely into His loving arms with the will to give up that sin we hold on to so tightly, showing that we are truly ashamed of our actions and are going to change for the sake of loving God better.
So my challenge for you and myself this week is to think of that sin that you cannot seem to let go of. Realize the abuse that you are placing on God through your constant apologies, and ill-will to actually change. Pray for the desire to hate that sin, and to cut it out of your life for the sake of having a closer relationship with the God who is longing to hold you in His arms.
