Sinner

Die to Self

grahamcommand Christian , , ,

Here I’m not talking about suicide, but admitting you are a sinner and asking for forgiveness

Repentance (turn entirely away from sin) is needed and confession of all your sins

“Unless you are born again you can never enter heaven” which means you need to die to yourself (the old self – the sinning self – the self-centred self)

The reason it can be hard to do this as we take for granted our God-given free will

Frequently misusing it by self-indulging in bad habits or at least things that offer small short pleasure.

Bad habits vs Good habits

Bad habits seem harmless and they are really easy to get into but hard to break because the more you indulge the more you desire to indulge

Before you realise you are addicted and even though you may try to stop, you can’t rely on using your own willpower, as you have already given up your free will and all willpower when you first indulged

Whereas

Good habits take time and consistent effort, and persistence

Leaving little room for the “Self-centered” and the old bad habits lest they snare you back as a slave to the sin you had before

Once you have repented and given your whole life to Christ, you will begin to hate what you once desired. You will be tempted, but you will be able to resist through His strength. “For I can do all things through He who strengthens me“

Scrooge Tells His Story

grahamcommand Fiction, Stories, Uncategorized , , , ,

I Ebenezer Scrooge the wretched man of this story and the events that change my life so completely, I freely praise that day and I shall be grateful for the rest of my days

As I now retell my story to my every growing adopted family, it helps to remind me what a truly lost soul I had become

Many years have past since that fateful night when I was visited by those three spirits, foretold by my old dead partner Jacob Marley who appeared in ghostly form, bound by many heavy and sturdy chains

That night I refused to believe that it was he, and dismissed his warning, but even so his words troubled my mind so much that I was unable to sleep

I still shudder even now just thinking about that night of revaluation, when the truth of my past life was revealed to me by all three spirits

Each spirit with a different part of my life to transport me into, with the last spirit of the Christmas yet to come, being the spirit I feared the most

Until that night I had no idea how miserly I had become,and what lonesome and miserable life I had encased myself into, by snubbing even my only living relation, which I came to regret later on

My nephew, the only child of my dear sister who died in his birth, in my selfishness I blame him for her death

My biggest regret of my past was allowing my covetousness of money to hard my heart and replace the love of a fine and dear young lady, who I had vowed to love for eternity, it saddens me that I fail to keep that vow

Enough of my wallowing in self-pity, I rejoice in my new life, this second chance I was given

The joy of a full family life and friendship I now have, could never be replace by any amount of gold or silver

God forbid that I should ever revert to that old mean money grasping miser, I would rather be taken from this life, even as happy as I am than become old self again

The reason behind this addition to this famous story

I may have never been a miser, but a sinner. Yes indeed

A wretched sinner in desperate need of salvation, like Scrooge unaware just how hard hearted towards God I had become

As a forgiven sinner, who through God’s grace is “born again “I would rather be taken from this life, even as happy and at peace as I am now, I would prefer death than ever become that old self again!