TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” (Psalm 51:12 ESV)
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• “To mask, or not to mask… that is the question.” And a figure of speech modified from Shakespeare. There are strong opinions either way and THIS IS NOT AN INVITATION to start a debate. So please don’t.
My husband and I have not been wearing them. We have two N95s—the Mack-daddy of masks we happened to have in our garage… Those bad boys will definitely protect you, but they have one downside—you can’t breathe in them. And personally, I like breathing and prefer it to being suffocated. Since our on-hand masks aren’t feasible for everyday wearability, I am proactively getting some fabric masks because I think a lot of businesses are going to require them, especially as NC prepares to reopen on Friday. And I’m not just getting two. I’m getting enough so we can rotate them out and wash them because… Eww! Wear clean masks, people!
Yesterday, I got two from my dear friend Carol. She did an amazing job on them. She made me a chambray with stars and I had her do a masculine orange one for Wayne (the kind of orange to make Home Depot proud… or encourage others to ask him for direction to the painting supplies whenever he goes to the store.)
Here’s the problem though. I tried on my new mask and while breathing is a vast improvement over the N95, my glasses started fogging up. Sigh. I thought I was done with contacts because I’ve reached the place that when I wear contacts, I have to have readers. And if I’m wearing glasses to see, I have to take them off to read. So one way or another, I have to have glasses with me. It seemed more cost-effective to exclusively wear glasses… But if my glasses fog up to wear a mask, I have a whole new problem to figure out! Good grief—this coronavirus has created so many additional problems beyond the virus—economic tailspin, unemployment, increased domestic violence, and a toilet paper shortage are the among the most urgent side effects of the virus! But glasses-wearers understand this dilemma. We can’t see when our glasses are foggy.
And with all that said, today, we’re talking about side effects.
SIDE EFFECT #1: Sin affects others. Let’s go all the way back to Sin’s Ground Zero—the Garden of Eden. When Eve succumbed to the temptation of the forbidden fruit, she brought forth the virus of sin (Genesis 3). Highly contagious, everyone who has ever been born (with One exception) has suffered from it.
SIDE EFFECT #2: Our sin quenches the Holy Spirit. Let’s go to 1 Thessalonians 5:19, which says, “Do not quench the Spirit.” What that means is don’t disrupt the work of the Holy Spirit. When we let our sinful natures rule our hearts over the will of God, that’s what we do—we quench the Spirit. Our sin limits the way we can learn from the Holy Spirit.
SIDE EFFECT #3: Sin robs us of our joy. Let’s go to Psalm. David wrote, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:12). This is part of David’s confession psalm. He recognized that his sin had robbed him of the joy and excitement he found in the Lord. Our sin dims our enthusiasm for obeying the Lord and following Him.
SIDE EFFECT #4: Sin takes away our peace. Again, in Psalms, David wrote, “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah” (Psalm 32:3-4). Our sin takes away our peace and fills us with anxiety.
SIDE EFFECT #5: Sin affects our fellowship with God. 1 John 1:3,6 says, “That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” Sin keeps us in the dark whereas Jesus is the light. We must repent in order to fully fellowship in the light of Christ.
There are other side effects, but we can never assume our sin impacts us alone. There are serious consequences and the sin we allow to fester can destroy us if we allow it. Weigh the costs carefully and then, remember that Jesus paid the price. Let go of sin and leave it at the cross where it should stay.
Today, as you pray, thank God for the forgiveness of sin. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you conquer sin and repent from the sins that are holding you back from perfect fellowship with Him.
SHARING ••• Please share with others! Visit www.MyGraceFullLife.com to read past blogs. ***Unless noted otherwise, all Scripture references are from the ESV translation.
