Thursday, October 4, 2007

The Unpardonable Sin

As I said, we did our shopping yesterday and boy! were we ever tired afterward. I think we were tired more from the stress than from the physical activity but we were very tired by the time we got the car unloaded and everything put away. You do the shopping and are tired and then remember that you still have to unload the car and put everything way. Buying it all is only part of the chore. But we did really well, spending wise. I think overall we spent less than usual and it seems like we bought more than usual. Of course Walmart was out of the dry cat food my cats like so I had to buy one bag of the original flavor (which they will tolerate but certainly let me know they prefer the seafood medley) and we'll have to go back over mid-month and buy another bag of the seafood flavor, hopefully. We're going to make a day of it though and play some dominoes with my sisters and brother-in-law when we go back over. We haven't all been together in quite a long time so any excuse is good enough. I will be tied up at church until noon on that Saturday but we'll still have plenty of time to go over. We can't be gone too long anyway because of the dog being inside the house.

I'm a woman without a plan today. I know I need to work on my 40 Days project but other than that I have no plans to do anything. If I didn't already have the bed made, I'd probably end up going back to bed and sleeping the day away. It's a little on the nippy side this morning and those are my favorite days to go back to bed. Instead I'm sitting here at my computer writing this blog. I've got my flannel sleep pants on and one of Michael's old long-sleeved shirts to keep the chill away. That's right, I'm not even dressed yet but I am intentionally skipping that chore this morning because I'm more comfortable in what I have on so it's okay. I have the rest of my chores done and I'll get dressed as soon as it warms up a little. It doesn't count when I intentionally skip a chore. (Hey! They're my chores and I can make the rules if I want to! LOL.)

Mario is up here sitting beside my keyboard watching me type. He's trying to be a cool cat but what he's really wanting is my chair. We fight over my office chair every morning. For some strange reason he seems to be under the impression that my chair is his chair and he does everything possible to bug me into leaving so he can have the chair. This is really intimidating now because he's moved to the other side and it sitting with his head and neck out over the keyboard. He thinks if I can't see the keys I'll stop typing but he's wrong; I don't need to see the keys to type. Oh, here comes the paw. When I don't give in and share the chair with him he'll periodically paw the air in my direction with his ears lying back a little onto the top of his head. He's got the whole routine down and he doesn't miss a trick to try to con me into moving so he can have my chair. The problem is, he's sitting on the handwritten copy of my blog so I can't type it until he moves off my writing pad so I can see what to type. One of us is going to have to give up but it's usually always me who does the giving.

I got a good start on my 6th scarf last night after I finished the one I was working on. I bought enough yarn for 6 scarves yesterday. Each skein was supposed to have been $2.74 but after I got home and looked at the receipt, she charged me $4.47 for each skein! You know, it's getting to where you need to stand right there and watch to see what price rings up with every single item. We never do our shopping without finding something wrong with it. Usually it's a wrong price like yesterday. But sometimes it's charging us for more items than we purchased. That happens a lot. We'll buy three items and will find out after getting home that we were charged for four items. I think from now on I'll just push my cart out of the way inside the store and stand there and go over my receipt. I hate to have to do that, and I shouldn't have to do that but that was a $10 mistake yesterday! Ouch!!! It doesn't take too many of those to make it worthwhile to drive back over or shop somewhere closer.

Anyway back to my scarves. I got enough yarn for 6 new scarves. Six different and new colors. I really don't need that many, I just enjoy knitting them and I also enjoy wearing them. I'd never worn a scarf until a couple years ago and they are so incredibly warm to wear on a cold outing. And I like the looks of them too. They're nice accessories to my wardrobe. But I mostly wear them because they're so warm around my neck. I have a couple scarves that I'll give to my granddaughter. I know she will like them. My other granddaughter had me knit a wardrobe of scarves for her. I think I made her six. She loves to wear scarves and wanted a whole bunch of them so that's what she got for her birthday last year: a big box of scarves. But they are so quick and easy to knit. After I finish these scarves I will make a bunch of hotpads out of left over yarn and then I think I'll start on a pair of slippers. If I can remember the pattern which I think I do. I haven't knitted a pair in years and years but I think I still remember how. They are a lot more work than scarves but maybe I could start and by next Christmas have enough to give a pair to everyone. We'll see. I found a box out in the garage that had 8 skeins of yellow yarn in it and I can use that yarn for slippers. The yarn I use for scarves is different from the kind used for slippers. Well, now that you've heard all about my scarves and slippers maybe I should start on my blog. You're bound to be bored stiff by this time. (I can always find something to write about. I just regret that it's always boring stuff.)

The Unpardonable Sin
Do you worry about the unpardonable sin? Are you afraid you will slip and fall victim to the one sin for which there is no forgiveness from God? Listen carefully. No one today can commit the unpardonable sin. Did you hear that? Write it down. No one today can suddenly find themselves committing a sin for which they cannot receive forgiveness (1Jn 1:9). According to the Bible, the only action God will not pardon is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, committed by the Pharisees.

These Jewish religious leaders (who should have known better) were given compelling evidence that Jesus was the Son of God, and yet they sought to undermine Him in hopes of maintaining their own status and prestige. After witnessing Christ's miracles, the Pharisees blasphemed by assigning His supernatural power to the works of Satan. Christ Jesus' response to their sin was a warning that whoever spoke this way against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven (Mt 12:22-23). Make no mistake about it, to accredit the works of the Holy Spirit as works of Satan is a very serious sin today. But it is not an unpardonable sin. As bad as that sin is, there is still forgiveness available for the person if he asks for it.

Since people living now do not have the undeniable physical presence of Jesus Christ in the world, they can't recreate the Pharisee's sinful event. However, it is possible today to end up in an unpardonable state. This can happen when a person rejects the Holy Spirit's call to salvation and holy living, and then dies while in a condition of unbelief. Unbelief is different from disbelief in that when a person is given undeniable evidence to the contrary, they choose to not believe that evidence. That is called unbelief. Disbelief does not have the element of compelling evidence working with it.

These are the stages leading up to an unpardonable state. An unbeliever chooses to sin, even though he knows what he's doing is a flagrant violation of the Word of God. He resists the Holy Spirit's gentle promptings toward conviction and salvation, and in the course of many years hardens his heart against God and against God's right to decide how people should live their lives. A time comes when the Holy Spirit makes no impression at all, and any desire for the Lord has dried up like a creek bed in the hot desert sun. There isn't a sermon or a song capable of moving him. His heart has become petrified to the gospel.

It is imperative for us to understand that absolutely no sin can separate us from God's love. Only a conscious decision to reject the Lord can result in a person spending an eternity apart from Him. However, we need to be careful that we don't claim a supernatural work of God that happens today as something done by demons or by Satan himself, because, while it is not unpardonable, it is still a very serious sin to commit. Jehovah God does perform incredible miracles in the lives of His people today. He always has. He always will. Be careful not to accredit Satan and his demons with works of God Himself!

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