The grass isn’t always greener
Are you ever jealous of people? In the way that they can just get away with things and never get caught? I was and still am sometimes. As a Christian it is important to hold to the God’s teaching and all his wisdom throughout the Bible. But it doesn’t always feel like the most important thing. Some actions you won’t see the consequences until you get to Heaven which makes it easy to disregard the Bible and live in the moment.
In Jerry Bridges book, Respectable Sins, he writes about a concept called immorality and specifically calls out those who stand on the sidelines wishing and living through others. This is a huge struggle I have. Being a Christian is hard especially when everything in you except the Holy Spirit is pulling you the other direction. A part of my testimony is this exact thing. I was going through a really hard time in my life and just felt squashed by christianity and having to always be a good person. If you are not going to God and being poured into, it is exhausting. So I dropped it. I started living the way I wanted to and doing the things I envied other people for doing because they could get away with the sin. Well that’s what I thought I wanted.
Honestly… It sucked. Instead of getting that relief I was searching for, my soul was so burdened. Instead of finding the fulfillment I craved I was just torn down by the things I was doing. Sure it was fun for a little, but then at the end of the day, I was crippled with pain. It gave me a new outlook on the God I serve. He gives us rules, not to burden us, but to protect us from ourselves and to keep us as healthy as we could be. His rules are only good. Being in him is so freeing. Those people who I thought were getting away with things still are being held accountable, just maybe not on this earth. Psalm 37 tells us not to envy those who are doing wrong because they will not last. The world may seem like everyone is having fun and thriving while doing the sinful behavior, but coming from the other side, they are just as broken as the rest of us. Be praying for the unbelievers because how great would it be for them to feel the freedom we feel?
Drinking is something many people fantasize about because of how high of value culture put on it. This article talks and informs about the dangers of college drinking. Many people go to college wanting to drink to get the experience. There is nothing wrong with consuming alcohol but to the point where you are blacking out due to over consumption could be anything but fulfilling.
Hopefully you are not like me and understand what you have in Christ. If you are like me, I urge you to listen before you hurt yourself more. The world never has the answers to your problems. Being jealous of evil is the wrong path, sprint away from it and cling to God, he is out only hope.
Here are the sources from this post.
Bridges, Jerry. Respectable Sins. NavPress, 2007.
Holy Bible. Zondervan, 2011.
“National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).” National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.niaaa.nih.gov/.
