Waking Up

There comes a point when you know that the sin in your life is not just your sin but you cause other people to sin. Whether it is a sin you commit with another person or your sin influences someone else to sin, you find yourself struggling to find a way out so that the decisions you make can help other people out rather than hurt them. You can hurt a Christian by causing them to stumble but you can pick them up too if you know how to fix things between you and God and look out for them the next time around. It is one thing to make decisions that affect yourself but its a whole different feeling when you make decisions that affect other people. Being that I want to go into the business world and more specifically the sport world, the decisions that I make everyday will not only affect me but they will affect my co-workers, the players, the fans, other teams, and many more. If you find yourself having influence on people in a poor way (it may be unintended), you need to seek God and make things right because you are heading down a path that you do not want to go and you might ruin someone's life in the process. Sure they can make their own decisions, but if you know they struggle with something and you are facilitating that, you have to put the breaks on or caution them somehow. In Galatians it talks about "restoring others gently if your brother is caught in a sin but you who are spiritual should be careful or you also may be tempted." This is a very true statement because usually we go along for the ride when someone is having fun or making a destructive decision, it is human nature! We need to be careful though because not only will you be responsible for what you did, you are somewhat responsible for the action of the other(s). Eve convinced Adam that eating the apple was the best choice and he did not bother to ask any questions because he had no reason to doubt Eve. In the same way, we meet people and sometimes they think they can trust us but in the end it just leads to destruction and hurt.

I would like to say that the Bible just ends in Galatians with the verse about restoring your brothers gently but that is not the case. Mark 9:42 states, "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone around his neck." Harsh words for our generation to hear but it is most definitely a warning to watch out for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Ephesians 4:29 is about speech and building up other Christians but I think our speech and our attitudes ultimately reflect our actions and so we need to be careful of how we talk to our fellow believers. I wish I could say I was immune to all this but occasionally I find myself in a situation in which I have to make a decision or watch my speech when it comes to fellow believers. I want to be okay and I want to stay out of situations that are potentially harmful but in order to do that, I need to be more connected with God. Finding out a balance of things every semester is one of the toughest things to do and when you unexpectedly throw in some new responsibilities and other new situations, you tend to get a little jammed and you make sacrifices in some areas that end up hurting you until you can find a more perfect balance for things. I must say that when I write on here I feel like this weight is lifted off me. I wish I burned with the passion that I once did and I know that I still can but I need to find it again, it might take some time. It is all about priorities and making smart decisions and as soon as I figure it out I know I will be happier than I have ever been. God is great and is looking out for me everyday and I am thankful for that. Just remember to look out for your brother's and sisters in Christ.

Please continue to pray for me as I have more stuff to deal with now than I had a few weeks ago. I will continue to pray for all of you and hopefully I will post a little more regularly. Lots of attacks right now but God will pull me through. Hope you all have a good night.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson