Christian Chefs Fellowship - Devotional Articles

God was speaking to me a few days ago. I had been spending a whole lot of time concentrating and meditating on how sinful I can be, and because of that, how unworthy I am of God's love. Unfortunately, I often am overly hard on myself, but a few days ago, every sinful thought, every prideful statement or thought, and anything else remotely sinful I thought, said, or did, I mulled it over and over because of how terrible a Christian I was being -- especially since God has me currently living, working and fellowshipping daily with other Christians (a first for me on all three counts).

That same night and the next day, God really spoke to me about that. Being so hard on myself, I was blaspheming God with my thoughts. Not directly, but I'd completely forgotten the whole nature of Jesus! Jesus came to this world because He loves us! He came to die for your and my sins and to bring us sinners into eternal life with and through Himself! Not because we are or ever were "good", righteous, or deserving anything other than eternal death, but because He loves us how we are today. He loves me no less today than He did when I was fallen away for a few years of my life. If that wasn't true, Jesus wouldn't have come to this world in the first place, nor would He have died for my sins, in which case I and we all would be hell-bound, as Romans 6:23 (NIV) says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

How much more important it is to concentrate on Jesus alone rather than ourselves. Concentrating on ourselves can only lead to depression, continued sin, and as I mentioned, the rejection and blaspheming of Christ. Concentrate on Christ above, set your hearts, burdens, and sins on Him, and He alone will deliver you from sin, providing you with eternal life and contentment. As the common saying goes, "Love the sinner, hate the sin." That also should be applied to ourselves. It's good to hate all that's bad in my life, but I need to love the sinner (myself) too, as God loves me. God doesn't expect us to be perfect, as Mark 10:18 (NKJV) says, "No one is good but One, that is, God." But what we should expect is for God to constantly work on bettering us.

Just think of all the times we can be sinful in the kitchen alone, with anger, pride, envy, and even lust. Once we start concentrating on the sin, as we all probably know, we start falling farther into it. As God's Word tells us, it's impossible for us to stop sinning on our own, but by lifting our sins up to God in constant prayer, God can and will deliver us from them. Just remember, it has nothing to do with how good we are at overcoming sin, and everything to do with God's love for us!

Ira Krizo
CCF Director

If God is speaking to your heart about these things, and you need somebody to talk with, please don't hesitate to e-mail us about your need and somebody from the Fellowship will contact you as soon as possible. If you have a prayer request or would like to start a theological discussion on this or any other topic please feel free to post it in our Message Boards.

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