...the heat is rising... get out of the pot and be holy

when reading the Word throughout our lives as followers of Christ.. drawing close to Him, getting to know Him better, it is inevitable to understand more and more that even though He loved us when we were still His enemies, even though He knew of all the sins we would commit in our life time on this earth and paid for all of them when He gave His life on the cross, even though He will always welcome us back after we have turned away and gone astray for a while..... even though all of this is true... His Word tells us again and again that we too need to be Holy, like He is Holy....

overwhelming and unattainable without Him, still extremely hard with His Spirit in us...

wondering if in the big scheme of things the Lord also allows others to sin against us so that we can get a better understanding of how Satan really works... how subtle he is in deceiving us...

together with a dear friend who finds herself in a similar situation, trying to process what happened, it became clear to me that the sinning, the utter disregard of what we know is right, is not something that happens randomly all of a sudden... rather it is the consequence of slowly drifting away, distancing ourselves from God and buying into one little lie at a time...

 this is why this is so very dangerous... this is why we all are more than capable of all the sins out there, even though we might not want to admit it...
the husband starting an affair did not get up from His amazing quiet time with His Lord , celebrating His vibrant relationship with Jesus.... just to make a 180 degree turn and dismiss all he ever believed in...
no, it must have been a slow process of accepting things as okay that were  in the " grey area"

be holy... be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14

when walking down the slippery slope of disobedience, at first we are just giving in a little bit to something... the escape route is still pretty wide...and easily accessible... each lie we believe takes us further down the road that leads away from God.. and the window we could climb through to escape becomes so small, the effort to squeeze ourselves through ends up to just be too much... in the end... we just take the last little plunge... it is not such a big step anymore...

so what are we to do... we need to be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8

and... we need to pray this...
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
 See if there is any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24

and deal with it... repent... walk away, stop before, like the frog in the pot of water on the stove is slowly getting used to the heat and dies, we are so okay with sinfulness that committing that sin is no biggie anymore....

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;  for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:14-16

#SoliDeoGloria