Boiling Frogs

They say that the best way to boil a frog is to put him in cold water and gradually turn up the heat to a boil, this way he won’t recognize the threat until it is too late, but if you put him in a pot of boiling water immediately, his survival instincts will cause him to detect danger and he’ll quickly jump out.

Much of my life has presented in this way. I know because I just jumped before it was too late, just like the time before last. I was in too deep and the heat was turning up. I would have done any and everything to stay in that nice warm pot, but I realized that if I don’t jump now I would surely boil. My pot was pretty, cosy and amazing, but apparently this pot was not good for me, and I didn’t fit.

I read Lamentations 2:11 the day that I jumped, it described my feelings after getting out of the pot... “I have cried until the tears no longer come; my heart is broken”. I was sad to leave the pot, under other circumstances maybe the pot would have been a good place to be. But now this one was hurting me, I didn’t feel it immediately but the heat was slowly but surely being turned up.

We all reach a stage in our lives when we realize how much sin we have let in and how much we have sacrificed to stay in this comfortable warm area of our lives.

The enemy is fairly clever with how he presents you with temptation, he doesn’t throw it all at you at once, he lets you slide on the small things, a swear word here or there and maybe a drink or two too much. Slowly he presents the flesh as being more and more attractive. We let sin creep into our lives little by little, bit by bit.

They say there is nothing like the fire of a new believer (or a recently born again Christian) they want to set the world alight with their passion and flames. They throw out the old and make radical changes. So often those changes don’t stick. I was lucky enough to when I decided to make some radical changes have an amazing support group. But some of the changes that the Lord has made are still taking time to manifest in my life. I am sometimes weaker than I care to admit. And sometimes I feel like the changes didn't stick, for every now and again I fall.

In university I had the most worldly friends you could imagine and for me to change within their setting was so hard, don’t get me wrong if asked on a form what their religion was, about 90% of them would say Christian. But God started working on me, making me realize that this was not what He had planned for me, His daughter. So we started making changes to my lifestyle little by little, as not to upset my worldly friends too much, or be labelled an outcast or worse a freak. A popular theme song I didn’t want to my life to dance to, look at what she’s done and now she’s being all holier than though, what a hypocrite!

I started my first job after varsity where God gave me a lifelong great spiritual mentor only down the hall from me, and the most amazing mature brothers and sisters in faith in the building. We had daily prayer hours in our lunch and I saw miracles and started loving the Lord in a deeper way. After that, by the Grace of God, I went to the Netherlands for 6months, I learnt a lot about myself by travelling with God daily, an outreach in Hungary and a month of backpacking later I was back, ready to spread the Gospel and Love because He had loved me. I was made strong to be poured out!

But the enemy saw my all my weaknesses  and slowly but surely I let little sins I had done in the past become favorite habits again. I was still going to church, helping out wherever I could and passionately in love with my Lord but somewhere along the line I had a paradigm shift, from a Gospel World View to a more Worldly (but Christian) World View. You know the one, pushing the boundaries, and justifying everything I did. I was in love with the Lord, but I loved the world too. I realized recently...

Sink or swim. Adapt or die. Jump. Change. The lessons are fairly simple. I was in a pot and it was starting to boil. I had to jump or die...

The important thing is not how far you fall, but how well you get back up, that will be what defines you.

David

This morning my Bible study was about King David. He was a sinner and a saint. But he was also a hero.

Sometimes the true heroes aren't the supermen and women - they are the severely flawed ones who fall down time and time again, but also get back up - and those are the ones I most look up to. David is such a hero to me, he did absolutely amazing things for the Lord but he also fell down (hard) and his sins are written down for all the world to see and judge. Still he kept singing his song and praising the Lord.

"But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high." Psalm 3:3 (NLT).

David was the author of most of the Psalms, he wrote them with feeling and truth, but also with authenticity, remorse, regret, faith, love and hope. He wasn't afraid to admit how much he needed God and how fallible he was. He, the warrior who had slain Goliath and became King, admits to complete surrender to the Lord.

"I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing." Psalm 16:2 (NIV).

"And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence." 2 Samuel 22:2 - 3 (KJV).

Another amazing thing about David's story is how God uses his mistakes. Everybody knows the story of David and Bathsheba. They were punished for what they had done, but God forgave them and a second child was born to David and Bathsheba. This child was not a "loser" or "drop-out" but he became instead the wisest King to ever rule. Solomon. Their union which had started out as dirty and sinful, was restored and made holy by His grace.

I have fallen many times. I have gotten back up, sometimes I am ashamed of all the mercy and grace I have received from God (ashamed of how much I have needed) - sometimes I feel undeserving. I have been healed, blessed, restored and made holy. I remind myself that I receive this not because of who I am, but because of who He is. I do not deserve it, and yet He loves me more than I can ever comprehend. His Love is unconditional, unfailing and never-ending. I do not have to prove myself to Him, and I can't even do anything in return. But because I've been forgiven so much and I receive so much love, I must give as well.

"Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins." Psalm 51:1