Ever forget that sin is normal in the culture we live in, then remember your past? This post is for you.

Living as a Christian, I actually forget what the norm is. College students think Thirsty Thursday is still a thing. People think it's right to have sex before marriage. They still curse every other sentence. Drinking is called fun, despite sickness and being taken advantage of. Young women are starting to call themselves 'sluts' with pride. (?????? how these things are normal is beyond my understanding, but anyway...)

How could I possibly forget all these things? I was once all of them. This used to be my life. 

I may have forgotten what is normal, but I will never forget the life that I lived. The moments where I myself was the side chick, and even hung out with the guy and his girlfriend. I remember dreadful, horrid breakups. Walking into the house after a night of partying. Damaging my car while drinking and driving. Being proud of getting called heartless and ruthless. And to think that these are actually my better moments.

I can still feel all of my emotions from those moments. The excitement, pain, sickness, fun, and anger. When I pull myself out of these moments, almost as an outsider looking in, I realize how broken and lost I was. I was on a path to destruction with my behaviors. And my heart breaks for the world captured by this behavior.

When I look back on who I was, it ignites my love for people who are in those exact positions today.

I pray God shows me how to love these people, because I don't know how to love perfectly. I've never been taught and there's no rule book for love. The Lord needs to show me how. When God loves you unconditionally like He has with me, you can't love others lightly anymore. And especially when we think about those who have never been loved before.

I refuse to forget where I came from, and not help to save those still there. 

If you've experience a judgmental Christian, I'm sorry. But we're not perfect, and we go through our own problems too. I can be just as judgmental as the next guy. We don't mean to hurt others. We want to imitate God, but sometimes we're way off the mark. But it does hurt us to see others going down the same path that we're free from. It hurts knowing that others are hurting themselves, and there's nothing I can do about it. It just hurts. But as God continues to heal me from my past hurts, I will begin to show His love more and more to others.

I want to say to you still living in sin: it's destroying you. It destroyed me and I didn't even realize it! I even loved living in it. My body was constantly getting satisfied, and some think that's right. It's not. If we feed every desire that we have, we're on our way to destruction. Want to eat McDonald's everyday for breakfast, lunch, dinner? Try it, and you'll eventually die. We know this, but we refuse to listen in some areas of our lives. We refuse to listen to God's voice.

But His commands were made so we can live perfectly how we were created to live. 

The only way to forget what's normal in our culture is to not live in it. I no longer follow the world's rules. Obeying God means leaving behind the world. But we can't obey God without hearing His voice. Say you're in a coffee shop with a friend. Your friend starts talking, but you tune into the conversation from the table behind you. You can't listen to what your friend is saying at the same time. It was your choice to focus on the conversation behind you. But your friend, Jesus, is talking to you and you're not even paying attention.

Who are you listening to? Who are you tuning out when you listen to them? What's the consequences for your choosing? 

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air" (1 Corinthians 9:24-26)

Runner 1.

They're preparing to follow God, but don't actively pursue Him. They are like a boxer beating the air. They wind up missing out on Heaven.

Runner 2.

They actively pursue following Jesus with all of their hearts, turning themselves in the right direction. The wind up getting into Heaven through strict training.

Runner 3.

They start to run towards Jesus, but stop to satisfy their body's desire. They wind up missing out on Heaven.

Runner 4.

They run the fastest they can, but in the wrong direction trying to satisfy their body's desire. They were deceived by what normal looks like. Instead, it turned out to be destructive. They're running aimlessly. They wind up missing out on Heaven.

"No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:27)

God knows which runner you are. He knows which direction you're running towards. And if you start to listen to Him, He will direct you in which direction to run towards to make it into Heaven. Living a life obedient to God isn't easy, though. Getting rid of the sex, alcohol, and cursing is easy. But when you start to dig deep and have to rip out pride, jealousy, and anger, that's when the going gets tough.

As a Christian, I am called to expose my heart to myself, God, and others.

I reach inside and grab a little bit of junk out of my heart every day in order to keep striving towards Jesus. I stare my desires daily to become selfless. By no means am I perfect, but everyday I grow. I can't wait to be made whole through my relationship with God.

What is God telling you to strive towards? Share any testimonies in the comments below!