We make choices every day.
What are we going to eat?
How are we going to spend our time?
Where do I go on the internet?

What words are going to come out of my mouth?
We make a lot of choices about doing or saying the right thing or the wrong thing?

There are plenty of times when I have wish I hadn’t said something, times I wish I had done something, and those lead me to seek forgiveness. That’s a part of life.

But what about those habits or ways of being that I know aren’t pleasing to God, but I keep doing them anyway? What about the feelings in my heart that are not loving towards other people?

Scripture is pretty strong with what it says when we make the choice to let sin, things we know are not loving or honoring to God, be a part of our lifestyle. 1 John 3:10, “By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”

1 John really addresses the sin of not loving others. I think not loving God, others, ourselves, is at the root of all sin.
Everything we do or don’t do, affects the people around us, effects our world. It doesn’t matter how “secret” your sin is, it affects everyone you meet. If for no other reason than it effects you, it changes you.

When I think about my life, the ways I practice righteousness and the ways I sin, through the lens of how I love or don’t love, it changes everything.

Join us at Pembroke UMC this Sunday as we look at the struggle we all go through trying to discover what it means to love God, love other and love ourselves.