Christians typically assume that the best way to avoid this temptation of engaging in sexual impurity is to avoid anything even resembling friendship with someone of the opposite sex. Byrd, however, argues that avoidance is not purity; it is simply avoidance.
Vulnerability dares to let the mask down a bit, revealing a fuller story of oneself. And few of us in ministry dared this kind of deeply personal exposure back then.
God has written you a letter, child. It says that your sins are forgiven and that you are never alone, that you have a people
Should Christians call out sin? Firstly, we have to be very careful before we do. We need to make sure we've checked in with ourselves, our own sin, our motivation, and our desired outcome.
The grace of Jesus doesn’t give us license to go on sinning and being stubborn, but it does mean that when we cry out to God for forgiveness, we can be made right before God through the sacrifice of Jesus; in this righteousness, we are made more holy through the power of the Spirit.
When we find ourselves caught up in the world’s measuring sticks, stressed out and feeling inadequate because of our sinful hearts’ tendency to go along with relatively meaningless comparisons, let’s remember that one sinful human measured against other sinful humans is still just a sinful human.
