Devotions with Pastor Delinda

I used to be a monkey bar pro. I spent more time on the monkey bars (and the tetherball) on the playground than anything, and I had the callouses to prove it. I was trying to teach my son how to go from one bar to the other at the park a while back. He was terrified to let go of the one bar in order to grab onto the next.

In our family ministries this month we have been talking about ways we can grow and stretch in our faith. Last night we talked about how sometimes in order to stretch our faith we have to let go of something (sin) and cling to something else, much like the monkey bars, if you don’t let go, you can’t get to the next rung.

We challenged our students to look at some of their bad habits, particularly those that pull us away from God. The Bible uses the word "sin" to talk about the bad habits that harm us spiritually, and it reminds us that we're all prone to mistakes and failures. We all have room to grow and growth, or transformation is the goal of Christianity. It’s not just a prayer we pray once, it doesn’t stop there. Stretching our faith goes hand in hand with transformation.

Check out Romans 12:16-21 Paul gives a list of “don’ts” or things we need to let go of in order to grow; being proud, being “know-it-alls”, holding grudges, looking for revenge, letting sin control us. He in turn challenges us to cling to; humility, compassion, integrity, peacemaking and goodness.

You can stretch your faith by letting something go. What is it for you? What do you need to let go of? What are you holding onto that’s pulling you down or holding you back from moving forward in your relationship with Christ? What is it that you need to cling to instead?
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Pastor Delinda