Fighting the temptation to Sin in Quarantine.
You would think that because most of the world is in lockdown because of obvious reasons, that the urge to sin would be less. I have found this to be not so. We are sinners by nature, and resisting the urge to sin is very much a reality than if it weren't so. When you live in isolation, the urge can be to spend too much time with yourself meaning your thoughts, and not reaching out to others when it is possible. We can forget that God gave us a soul, so doing things that remind us of that is vitally important. You might feel dry in your spiritual life if you are a religious person, and not being able to access things like a synagogue or a church can be very frustrating for religious people.
Our place of worship is the common place where most of us feel forgiven, and feel a connection to God and other worshippers, so not having that right now can create a sense of religious cabin fever. Over my life, I have always found solace and assurance from my place of worship, and even if I missed a Sunday or a weekday of service, there was always next week or the weekend! How I have been finding that access to God's presence has been somewhat of a mystery to me during this quarantine, but it hasn't made it impossible to feel my soul being connected to God. The hardest part for some of us is to feel God's love and forgiveness, with so much going on around us, we might feel the temptation to give up trying! I would encourage you to keep on trying, even though your church might be closed, because there are ways we can connect with God's presence even when it seems impossible.
There was a time in my life, when I didn't believe in a God. I knew He existed but he had not revealed himself to me yet! I am sure that there are many of you who feel the same, you know that God exists but you have never felt His presence! I would encourage you not to seek God's presence alone, but to search him out in other ways. Reading sacred scripture is one way of getting to know God, and at times he reveals himself to us in that way. I hardly comprehended things about God, until I was ready to hear from Him. Jesus uses the parable of the scattered seeds to explain this.
Even if we hear God's message to us, our hearts must be ready because God's word only takes root in good soil. Our lives are constantly preparing us to receive this truth, I wasn't ready until I was 21! Today, the bible says, if you hear His voice harden not your hearts. When we are separated from one another like this, people can have a hard time seeing God's goodness and mercy. When the trials seems endless we can very easily lose hope of coming out of it! When all the forces of nature seem to be against us, you have to be creative in finding ways to connect with God. The obvious temptation is to believe that God has forsaken you. You know the bible says the opposite, and you want to continue to believe he is good. It's like life itself is hiding behind the clouds of this storm, maybe we are the ones hiding from God, he isn't hiding from us!
Try to do things during this time that not only strengthen your physical bodies, but also strengthen your soul. When you do things that remind you of yourself, and that you are not just physical matter, but you have an immaterial soul, you might awaken to a different world, a new way of looking at your situation, and the crisis that the world is feeling. Don't hide from God, look for His presence, as a matter of fact the bible teaches us there is nowhere you can go to escape Him.
"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Psalms 139:7-14 | KJV
This is Mike.
You would think that because most of the world is in lockdown because of obvious reasons, that the urge to sin would be less. I have found this to be not so. We are sinners by nature, and resisting the urge to sin is very much a reality than if it weren't so. When you live in isolation, the urge can be to spend too much time with yourself meaning your thoughts, and not reaching out to others when it is possible. We can forget that God gave us a soul, so doing things that remind us of that is vitally important. You might feel dry in your spiritual life if you are a religious person, and not being able to access things like a synagogue or a church can be very frustrating for religious people.
Our place of worship is the common place where most of us feel forgiven, and feel a connection to God and other worshippers, so not having that right now can create a sense of religious cabin fever. Over my life, I have always found solace and assurance from my place of worship, and even if I missed a Sunday or a weekday of service, there was always next week or the weekend! How I have been finding that access to God's presence has been somewhat of a mystery to me during this quarantine, but it hasn't made it impossible to feel my soul being connected to God. The hardest part for some of us is to feel God's love and forgiveness, with so much going on around us, we might feel the temptation to give up trying! I would encourage you to keep on trying, even though your church might be closed, because there are ways we can connect with God's presence even when it seems impossible.
There was a time in my life, when I didn't believe in a God. I knew He existed but he had not revealed himself to me yet! I am sure that there are many of you who feel the same, you know that God exists but you have never felt His presence! I would encourage you not to seek God's presence alone, but to search him out in other ways. Reading sacred scripture is one way of getting to know God, and at times he reveals himself to us in that way. I hardly comprehended things about God, until I was ready to hear from Him. Jesus uses the parable of the scattered seeds to explain this.
Even if we hear God's message to us, our hearts must be ready because God's word only takes root in good soil. Our lives are constantly preparing us to receive this truth, I wasn't ready until I was 21! Today, the bible says, if you hear His voice harden not your hearts. When we are separated from one another like this, people can have a hard time seeing God's goodness and mercy. When the trials seems endless we can very easily lose hope of coming out of it! When all the forces of nature seem to be against us, you have to be creative in finding ways to connect with God. The obvious temptation is to believe that God has forsaken you. You know the bible says the opposite, and you want to continue to believe he is good. It's like life itself is hiding behind the clouds of this storm, maybe we are the ones hiding from God, he isn't hiding from us!
Try to do things during this time that not only strengthen your physical bodies, but also strengthen your soul. When you do things that remind you of yourself, and that you are not just physical matter, but you have an immaterial soul, you might awaken to a different world, a new way of looking at your situation, and the crisis that the world is feeling. Don't hide from God, look for His presence, as a matter of fact the bible teaches us there is nowhere you can go to escape Him.
"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Psalms 139:7-14 | KJV
This is Mike.
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