and we are back!!!!!! After a little bit of covid at ki and long Christmas break, we are back here at the institute for another semester. AND OH MY GOODNESS I AM PUMPED. The Kanakuk Institute has truly been one of the sweetest years. It is so hard. so sanctifying. but so so so so so sweet. like who else in the world gets to study the word of God for hours on end and then spend the rest of the day playing with 82 friends that have become (literally, even though it is so cheesy) my family. thank you Jesus for this island and this place. i love it a lot.
we really hit the ground running while coming back to ki for the second semester. In the first week we covered the enneagram, strength finders, situational ethics and three whole days on the Trinity. i mean, when i say a full week, it has been a FULL week. this week, our beloved Chad Hampsch has been teaching us through the entire book of Romans. let me be the first to tell you, it is CONVICTING. but the gospel is BEAUTIFUL.
let me share with you two little nuggets that we learned this week. number one.
habitual righteousness.
In romans 6:15-23, we see Paul giving this defense for why we as believers should not keep sinning even though we are under the grace of Christ. Paul mentions that "sin shall not be master over us" and that we as followers of Jesus are DEAD to our sin and ALIVE in Christ.
but Paul also talks about how sin will always be a part of our lives on this side of eternity. it will always be in our nature as broken, sinful people. so, does that mean that we give up in the fight against it? does that mean we abuse grace and keep living in sin, knowing that we will be saved anyway? in the words of Paul, "MAY IT NEVER BE!!!"
so here we are as believers living in the newness we have in Christ but still struggling with sin. sometimes i struggle with this idea i need to be better and just stop sinning. I would get upset with myself when i messed up once again and felt like i once again abused the costly grace that we have in sweet Jesus. how do we solve the problem of habitual sin? how do we rewire our brains to be passionate about the things of Christ and not just coming up with ways to "stop sinning"?
and then Chad did what Chad does. hit us with TRUTH bombs.
"We are going to be a slave to something. There are only two choices for masters. We either are going to be a slave to our sin or we are going to be a slave to Christ. Paul is not just simply calling us out of habitual sin. He is calling us to cultivate habitual righteousness."
What a SHIFT in perspective. There is so much freedom in actively cultivating righteousness in our lives rather then just trying really really hard to not fall back into our habitual sin.
Jesus, teach me what it means to cultivate habitual righteousness. There is freedom in cultivating a life of faithfulness. And his commandments are not burdensome.
steward your gift.
as a believer, the Lord gives each of his kids at least one gift. we see this in romans 12:3. "For though the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgement, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. These measures are our spiritual gifts.
Each follower of Jesus has at least one. And we serve the body of Christ best when we use our gift well. In fact, our gifts are given to us in order to love others well.
I have been convicted of this a lot this year. I have been given very specific gift and if I do not use it, then it is selfish of me and I am choosing not to edify others. Like, I am being selfish and self-serving if i do not use the gifts that God has given me. I am taking away from blessing others when i do not cultivate my gift. MAY IT NEVER BE.
Discover your gift. Use it. Cultivate it. Steward it well. You matter within the body of Christ, believer. And when you do not use the precious gift that God has given you, the whole body suffers.
Jesus, thank you for giving us gifts to glorify you. May we steward them well and use it for your glory. We love you.
GUYS! If you are still reading this, wow!!! I am learning so much this year and it has been awesome, but my ultimate goal is to love Jesus more tomorrow than I do today. Knowledge is great, but knowledge of God does not sustain a lifelong relationship with Him. Love, commitment, and faithfulness does. May this be the thing that is cultivated most!
But i would love to share anything I am learning with you or answer literally any question you have about God, the bible, or literally anything!!!! You are loved!!!! Please reach out if you do!!!!!!
"Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies."
1 Corinthians 8:1
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