Tiny Truth's Thursday....Jesse and the Ants

Today was a productive day...to say the least. Ric and I bought bunk beds for the girls for $20.....and put about 20 hours of labor into them. We had to strip a layer of paint and stain off....sand them...sand them again....and then stain them. Whew....I am tired thinking about all the work we did. They look really good and I hope the girls enjoy being in a room together for a while.

We were outside for most of the afternoon working and Jesse and Shelby played while we worked. Jesse likes to throw balls....ride in his fire truck....hit bugs with an old golf club....chase the cat....stand in ant beds....you know, all things boy. I had seen the ant bed and knew that it was there, but seriously, Jesse didn't even listen to me when I told him not to go over near it. Well, let's just say that his baseball ended up over there....and he just had to go get it. Needless to say he got several bites as he stood there crying the most pitiful cry.....almost a whimper. I quickly scooped him up and stripped him down and got rid of the ants. He then preceded to go on a mission to grab the cat's tail and forgot about those pesky ants.

Not 10 minutes later......I heard the whimpering....again. I look, and there he is....knee deep and ants.....again! I throw down my paint brush and once again scoop him up and strip him down (at this point all he has on is his diaper) and get the ants out of his pants!! I told him"seriously son, why did you go back over there...again? Did you not learn your lesson the first time?". I know that his little 17 month old mind understood everything that I was telling him. He got down....still naked....and took off after the cat.

Why did I tell you that long drawn out story? I got to thinking about Jesse and the Ants, and why he would get knee deep in the junk that just hurt him...like 10 minutes ago. I thought about sin in our lives and how it stings...it bites....it hurts us....but yet, we keep going back to the same sins, over and over again. Why is that? We are content to stand knee deep in ants.....to go back to the same things that just hurt us. This verse hit me and reminded me about this very thing:

Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returns to his own vomit, [So] a fool repeats his folly.

We have all seen it...you know...the dog thing...it's gross, nasty, I don't even like thinking about it. But the Bible says, a person who continues to go back to the same sins....commit the same sins....is a fool and is just like that dog that does the unmentionable. Sometimes it seems like we just can't learn our lesson....that we can't get away from the grip of that sin. But friends, I know we can....because the Bible says so....and I have lived it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God [is] faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear.

I am thankful that I have been saved by Grace and that I do have a way of escape.....that I can bear it...say no to the ant hill.....that sin that keeps pulling at me. And yes, God is faithful...all the time! I don't want to live in bondage to any sin....don't want to live in my flesh. Sin no longer has a hold on me...and when I do see that same old sin creeping in...the one that I go back to...I will remind myself of this verse...remind myself of His grace...and praise Him that I am no longer dead in my sins!

Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

I pray that we will change our views and no longer live in bondage to the same old, same old....live in His grace...His wisdom...His light!

Tiny Truth's for this Thursday(errr...Friday):

~ $20 bunk beds rock...20 hours of labor...not so much

~ Jesse is all boy

~ Ant's are horrible in Georgia....seriously should all be killed

~ Jesse never learns a lesson on the first try

~ We all have one sin that we struggle to move away from

~ We have been offered a way of escape

~ We should take IT

~ God's grace is unbelievable

IN CHRIST ALONE

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory

Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ