Finding God after sexual sin either for the first time or for the seventeenth is tough and humbling. It involves battling pride, ceding control, accepting that you’ve sinned, repenting, receiving God’s forgiveness and then moving on with your life, walking in integrity and instituting new attitudes that promote purity and righteousness. Truly chasing after God in any situation means giving him your all, giving all of yourself all of the time.
He needs control over all of your life– Every area of it and you need to put His ways first. You will need to be faithful in the face of out and out temptation. You will need to pray when there are no words, praise when you are weeping and keep humbling yourself when you naturally feel proud. Humility is key to accepting the sovereignty of God; it helps with faithfulness and equips you with courage to face oncoming and inevitable battles. God calls us to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength- this isn’t just advice or encouragement this is a command. It is originally given in Deuteronomy but repeated in Joshua, Luke and Matthew. It is clearly something God is very keen on! Loving him with all of us requires our discipline.
God is the same throughout– When you are sinning, when you are repenting, when you backslide and when you are out the other side- don’t forget that. But our actions have power- sex outside marriage is not what God wants for us, it’s not what sex is meant for and is therefore sin. Sin has consequences. In this case it could be an STI, pregnancy, the grief or guilt experienced after a loss of innocence or a separation from God and a missing out of his best for you. All of these can be turned for good though- Romans 8:28(NIV) says ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.’
Recognise God for who He is. God is the author of creation, Alpha and Omega, He created us and knit us together in our mother’s womb. He is also perfect and true, and He has laid out what is right and wrong and makes it clear He takes sin very seriously. He gave his only son to redeem us, to make us right with Him and wash our sin clean, but that is not a ticket to an infinite cycle of sin-forgiveness-sin-forgiveness. Make up your mind to pursue Him and do it properly with integrity. Integrity is about being falseness, not flawless. It’s about your willingness and genuine desire to repent, not about going through the motions or never making mistakes again.
Be encouraged from all of this- be encouraged that pursuing God is the best and most exciting choice you can make. It will transform your life, give you meaning and purpose and a genuine relationship with God will mean a life of adventure. There is so much more beyond this situation, beyond this sin, open your eyes, get a glimpse of what can be yours and chase after it.
Written by Sara Bennett
TweetMe @Sarallam
Check out her personal blog HERE