Removing Inhibitions

When we got our steers this spring, one arrived sick. It continued to get worse. Bad enough it had gone off on its own in a shady area, I figured, to spend its last days, maybe hours. My husband, Wade, had done everything he could to help it continuing to carry buckets of water to a small water trough he laid by it to ensure it was hydrated and to give it a chance to pull through.

This steer had only been with us just a few days which means they are still skittish of the new humans, yet at one point while Wade was refilling its personal water trough, it sniffed his hands and was not afraid of him at all. It amazed me when he told me, but my husband made a statement that stuck with me, “Inhibitions are gone when you realize how bad off you are, and someone wants to help you.”

Childbirth immediately came to mind. 😁 Most of us who have gone through it would agree when the time comes to push the baby out, we don’t care who is in the room. The shyness walked out the door when you signed those hospital admittance papers. 😂 Just get that baby out!!

Later, it made me think of another scenario. Sometimes people run and run from the Righteous God. They are afraid for Him to know how truly “bad off” they are. The crazy thing is, our righteous God is also a merciful (Lamentations 3:22-23), loving (Psalm 36:7), and gracious God (Psalm 103:8). Oh, annnnnd He is also omniscient, meaning He already knows everything about us – the good, the bad, and the ugly (as the western movie title goes).

However, the truth of the matter is our inhibitions have to drop. We must realize how bad off we are when we come to Christ. We have to realize the sin we have sinned. We have to acknowledge there is NO WAY we are able to get ourselves to heaven. It’s all Him. (See Free Gift for more info on this.)

Maybe you have already accepted Christ and are a born again Christian (John 3:3), but you have sinned. The Bible teaches after salvation we still have weaknesses, we still are flesh, and if we are not *actively* trying to keep sin out of our lives – daily and truthfully, hourly – we will continue to sin. (I need to hourly; I don’t know about you!) We are a new creature (or person) in the Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17), but we will still sin if we don’t renew our mind in Christ (Romans 12:2).

And even though we know these truths, we can still struggle. Paul said it well when he said, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me” (Romans 7:19-20). We don’t do the good we should and we do the bad we know we shouldn’t do…it’s a battle, my friends. A battle with the flesh. The devil doesn’t help either by bombarding us with temptations (Matthew 26:41) or attacking our weaknesses (1 Peter 5:8).

The book of 1 John is written to Christians. John tells us in 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We will sin.

So what do we do? The next verse instructs us: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We must once again drop our inhibitions and come to Jesus to ask forgiveness.

Like the young steer knew my husband was there to care for it and not to be afraid, Jesus Christ is there for you too. He cares. He loves. He wants to forgive you. He offers the living water (John 4:14). To the saved reader who has sin in their life, He offers restoration.

Don’t continue in your “bad off” state. Remove your inhibitions and come to Christ. He is always waiting. Aren’t you thankful for a patient, merciful God? 💕