Why is it that the smallest things cause so puch pain? For example, papercuts are excruiciating. It is just the slightest sliver, but it cuts like a knife. Actually, I think a knife might be less painful. For the past couple of weeks, I have been having issues with my left eye. I went to the eye doctor because I felt like there was something stuck in my eye and I could not tell if it was a result of my new contact lenses or if something had flown into my eye. It felt like there was a small rock in it, but I could not rub out whatever it was and no amount of eye drops seemed to help. Honestly, one evening, I was eating some chips and a piece broke off and flew towards my face, so I wasn't sure if it had landed in my eye and was the cause of this turmoil, but it was painful!

I told my eye doctor of my chip theory and he laughed at me like I am sure you are, but I just wanted whatever was in my eye out of it. It literally felt like every time I blinked, this foreign object was scraping the surface of my eyeball. Yep, OUCH!!! So, the doctor put some drops in, flipped my eye lid, pulled out some tweezers and went to work; this was not fun, but I was willing to go through it to stop the pain I was experiencing. Finally, the doctor said, "You have oil pockets in your eyelids, they are like tiny pimples on the inside of your eyelid. Usually, I can pop them, but they won't pop." He sent me away with instructions on how to get them to pop on their own and a new set of contacts.

After a few days of following my doctor's orders, I felt some relief. But, last night, out of nowhere, the evil eyelid pimples struck again! It reminded me of my sins! What?!? I know, but hear me out. People constantly, yours truly, try to catergorize sins. Little white lies (not sure if the big ones are black or not, but you get my point). Yesterday, I caught myself gossipping, but it was like I could not stop myself. I reasoned that everything I was saying was accurate, but I knew it was still wrong. Big sins, little, sins, public sins, private sins, and my favorite the, "God knows my heart sins"; we try to categorize sin to make ourselves feel better, but we never think of how it makes God feel.

Just like a paper cut can sometimes hurt as bad a slicing your hand with a kitchen knife, your gossiping grieves God just as much as starting a false and malicious rumor. Just like my eye pimples hurt as bad or worse than being poked in the eye with a sharp object, my "little lies" hurt God as much as a murder! And, letting those little things fester can make you miserable. I don't know about you, friend, but I have spent so much of my life focused on how others sin worse than I do. It has made me angry and miserable at times, and has even ruined a few relationships.

Rather than categorizing sin or comparing our sins with others, we need to just ask God to show us the things in our lives that break His heart and focus on allowing Him to forgive and heal us in those areas. Not so that we can browbeat our brothers and sisters who aren't there yet, but just so that we can be closer to Him; more like Him. I don't ever want God to think of me as a little pain in the eye. Do you? Ms. EV

It is Day 3 of Vacation Bible School and today’s lesson is: Amazing! God’s Power over Sin! The corresponding verse is, “Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master” (Romans 6:23 The Message). In the beginning, Adam and Eve were meant to live peacefully and eternally in the garden. God, being a loving God, gave Adam and Eve instructions and free will to carry out those instructions. The serpent tempted Eve to disobey God and she complied, as did Adam. That first sin created a rift in the relationship between God and man that has existed ever since. Nonetheless, God, in His infinite wisdom, gave all of us a chance to live the peaceful, eternal like in Heaven when He sent His Son to die for our sins. Our part is to change the status of our relationship.

If you are familiar with Facebook, you know that in the ‘About’ section, where one fills in information about his or her life, there is an option to post a relationship status. You can choose indicate to anyone who visits your page whether you are single, in a relationship, engaged, married, it’s complicated, widowed, separated, divorced, etc. Recently, I have had several friends update their relationship statuses to reflect positive changes in their lives. As a longtime singleton, it literally makes me giddy when I see my single girlfriends get to update their relationship status to “In a Relationship,” “Engaged,” and, especially, “Married.”

One very close friend recently updated her status to “In a Relationship,” and there was an outpouring of ‘Likes’ and encouraging comments. One comment in particular, really hit home, as one of her friends commented, “…With who? I know you already [have] a relationship with God.” The comment intrigued me because I thought of how awesome it was that people know my friend has a relationship with God, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, as I began to study for today’s lesson at VBS, I thought, “If I documented my relationship with God, what would my relationship status say?”

Well, in the beginning because I was born into sin, I was both ‘SINgle’ and ‘Separated.’ Until I accepted Christ in my life, sin was my master. And that relationship, just as it did with Adam and Eve, caused me to be separated from God. I would even venture to say that for a portion of my life, once I got comfortable with sin, I was ‘Married’ to it. However, when I started to not just know of God, but have a real relationship with Him, my relationship status with sin changed to ‘Divorced.’ Once, I divorced sin, I was free to be ‘In a Relationship’ with God through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who bridged the separation between God and me.

So, how is my relationship with sin? Well, think about your exes. Some you never speak to again; you cut them from your life and move forward. I wish this was my relationship status with sin. Some exes become lifelong friends once the healing begins, which is nice when we are dealing with other human beings, but when it comes to sin, we cannot serve two masters. Therefore, if we are still friendly with sin, (you know, we give it a call or text late in the midnight hour when the pangs of loneliness set in), it is displeasing to God because we are living lukewarm life. If I had to pick a relationship status with sin now, it would be ‘It’s Complicated.' I try to stay away, but just like Paul, I want to do right, and I don’t always do right because there is a constant war between my spirit and my sin that has existed since I was born.  This war intensified when I divorced sin and entered in to a relationship with God. As long I as live on this Earth, I know the battle for my attention will continue.

It is difficult to turn your back on sin. Some sins are so enticing to our insatiable flesh. Nevertheless, the verse warns us that the result of a prolonged relationship with sin is death, but God gave us the gift of life by salvation through Jesus Christ. So, if you ABC (Admit that your are sinner, repent and turn from sin; Believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died and rose from the dead and that your sins are forgiven; Confess that Jesus is your Savior and Lord and live for Him), you will receive the gift of eternal life. And, according to the Bible, the appropriate relationship status would be, “Engaged’ because the Body of Christ, the Church, as the Bride, is waiting for the return of its Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, so we can get married and literally live happily ever after; not just fairy-tale happy, praising and pleasing God through inner joy and peace happy!

What is your relationship status with God? Do you know what it is or are you commitment-phobic? What is your relationship status with sin? Are you still friends or did you turn your back on sin? Perhaps, you are living a life like David, Paul, or even me, in which you do not want to sin because your heart belongs to God, but it’s complicated. God can and will show His power over the sin in our lives, if we will allow Him to make us whole. Forget wedding presents; if you want to receive the best gift of all time, choose salvation! Ms. EV has updated her Relationship Status to ‘Engaged.’ Ms. EV

If you want to update your relationship status, please talk to your pastor or minister, or if you do not have a church, find a Christian that you can talk to about salvation. Post your current relationship status in the Comments section of this blog and I will pray for you.

If you have already changed your relationship status, click over to the Comments section for this blog and share your status (i.e. In a Relationship, Engaged).