Weekly Topic Saturday #13: Side Effects of Sin

Welcome to Weekly Topic Saturdays!

Hello all, I pray that your week was filled with joy and love. Welcome back to those who have been with me here at A Golden Dream. For my first-timers, a great big hello there, if you haven't already please check out my previous posts when you get a chance.

Please don't hesitate to join the conversation, there are no right or wrong answers or questions. I'm not proclaiming to know everything, I am simply just discussing and picking topics on things that I personally have gone through and that I know would help someone.

What does it mean to have side effects from Sin?

What Does Sin Do?

How does Sin affect us and keep us from our purpose and God?

Let’s first start with a small recap of this week's Motivational Monday #13: Temptation, Let’s Talk About It!, we discussed what temptation is. We talked about how temptation is indeed everywhere and why we can’t run from it. We did however come to the conclusion that we can resist it by doing the following; Committing to Humble Prayer, Preparation, Knowing Yourself, Recognizing Temptation Before it Comes against Us, and Exercising the Word of God. Where Temptation is lurking, Sin usually follows. So for this week's Weekly Topic Saturday, I wanted to touch on what sin is, how it affects us, the ways that we can resist, and how to stay focused on God.

What is Sin?

Sin is an act of transgression against God and his biblical laws. Sins are generally actions, thoughts, harsh words, and/or certain emotions that are considered wrongful and unethical in the sight of God.

In a nutshell, Sin can also be defined as, “To Miss the Mark”. This phrase can be associated with archery. The intent is to hit the bull's eye ( which is to live accordingly under his biblical laws and to fulfill your purpose) but if your aim is off by a little or a lot and you missed the intended goal, which is the bullseye then you have committed sin, essentially. The Good thing about missing your mark is that you can try again and get it correct the nexts go around. God’s love and faithfulness never run out, they are brand new every morning. Lamentations 3:22-23

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 3:23

How Does It Affect Us?

Just like if you eat too much candy or sweets at any given time and you don’t treat your teeth accordingly, your teeth will start to become affected by your choices of eating too many sweets, which could result in getting cavities. It’s just like we discussed in the Weekly Topic Saturday #06: Mindfulness Your Choices Have Power post, every choice or decision that you make has a consequence or a reaction.

Sin is the same way, if we constantly indulge in sin and not make the effort to self-correct then just like your teeth, you too can get affected by it. When we indulge ourselves with sin it’s like contracting a spiritual sickness. It weighs us down emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Here’s how!

It Stunts Our Spiritual Growth

As we continue to walk with Christ there is a certain confidence that a believer should have. You're not just following anybody, you're following the King of Kings, The Alpha, and Omega, and the Lord or of Lords; so there’s a sense of confidence and boldness that one should have when following Him. You get your source and strength from God and that boldness and faith are your spiritual growth.

Your Prayer Life Weakens

Due to our spiritual growth decreasing; our faith, our confidence, our boldness, and our connection with God can also decrease as well. Our connection with God is built through prayer and worship. Making our petitions and supplications to Him is part of our soul connection to the father. Once we give up that prayer line, we can often find ourselves feeling alone and helpless. God is not one to force a relationship but I do know that he longs to have one with you. God loves you and wants to bless you in ways you couldn’t even imagine. We should all be in a place where prayer is our weapon of choice, myself included.

Feelings of Separation, Loneliness

Once your prayer life slows down, we no longer have a solid connection to the father. The foundation cracks and the emotions that are not of God like loneliness, depression, anxiety, suffering, and heartache increases. It slips through those cracks and that is when we will start to feel lost and alone.

I can say an Amen on this part for sure. I spent over 8 years feeling lost, trapped, and suffocated. I kept wondering why I felt that way. Wondering why God abandoned me, and why others left me. Hindsight being 20/20, I was the one who abandoned God, because I indulged in sin, I had hate in my heart, I was with the wrong people, I was surrounded by wrong things. In all actuality, it hindered my spiritual growth and affected my prayer life. I came to realize that it was making me look through the lens of things that were not of God.

Steals Our Peace and Joy

When we sin and those emotions that are not of God increase it can infect our spirit and can cause our inner joy and peace to diminish. Much like how our connection with God is built through prayer, so is our inner peace and joy. We feel inner peace and joy in our spirit because it comes through the constant awareness of the presence of the Lord. Sin can interfere with that peace and can replace those positive feelings with turmoil, guilt, and misery. It can have you feeling like nothing is going right, and may even make you feel like bad things continue to happen.

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

James 1:14-15

Resistance Against Sin

1. Avoid people and places that would typically lead to sin

2. Occupy your time

3. Except for Sin as inevitable but resistible

4. Study The Word

   1. Learn from the trials and tribulations from the endless stories that are presented in the bible

5. Prayer and supplication

6. Renew your way of thinking

   1. Fix your mind only on things that are from above

These are just some of the ways you can resist sin. When you follow the ways to resist the urge to sin above, there are a lot of great benefits. There are many rewards and blessings that are bestowed upon us when we are obedient to what the bible says.

• For one we are pleasing to God. God takes pleasure in our obedience.

• Another benefit is that we grow in the spirit. When we resist we have taken the opportunity to grow in God’s word and we are able to experience the power of God working through our lives. When we resist we are building up the muscle to say “NO” to the things that are not of God, which makes it easier to resist sin in the future.

• Another benefit is that we are setting an example for others to follow which can give us a sense of joy and peace within our lives.

• Lastly, we can avoid the negative consequences and dangers that come with sin.

Questions To Consider:

1. Once you know better, Do you have the urgency to do better?

2. In a run of a day monitor how much positive act and negativity acts your casting out, Does your bad outweigh the good?

3. Are you more likely to sin when alone or when you are with certain people? Do you give in to peer pressure? When are you most vulnerable?

4. Does this change your perspective about your ability to resist sin? How?

5. Have you ever justified or rationalized giving in to temptation?

With Love, With this week's topics being about temptation and Sin, I hope everyone thinks twice about actively engaging in either. Temptation and sin are inevitable. Every time you have to make a decision it is a battle between doing what is right and doing what is wrong. God’s hope is that you will make the right decision by putting him first over your worldly desires. The bible tells us, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world 1 John 2:15-16

~Just Breathe...A Golden Dream~

Amen.