Sin and Boldness

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived...
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

– 1 Corinthians 6:9,11

Hello, again. Thanks for making it this far in my faith journey. God has really spoken to me this morning, and I know I need to write this down so that I can look back on this time and know that God does have a call for me. Yesterday, I made a choice that resulted in sin going unpunished (by me). Officially being the store manager, I now have a greater responsibility to the store and ensuring everything is as it should be. After finishing the books of Samuel, I have began praying for boldness in my faith. Since I have been praying more regularly, God has certainly been allowing me the opportunities to be more bold in my character. I also believe he has been preparing me to take a step in my faith toward ministry, even where I am in my own life. Changes will come in His time, but we need to be the one to show we are faithful where he has us now.

Toward the end of my workday, a man came into the store and walked out with two bags and a backpack full of groceries, attempting to steal them. A cashier caught him and alerted the closer, assistant manager. Being paged to the front, I quickly was told and followed the man out of the store to confront him. The two bags in his hands were emptied, yet the backpack remained unopened, as he was trying to convince us that he had illegal things in there, including "guns and needles" that he did not want to show us. After reviewing the camera footage, it was obvious that he did put items into his backpack and would not admit to it. As I continued to ask for his bag, he kept backing further away. To my own fault, I let him go with the backpack. Of course, I did tell him not to come back to the store.

What happened yesterday made me very angry, yet I went straight to God after the situation resolved. I went to Him hoping he could magically fix the problem, getting the man to return with the stolen items. Many thoughts ran through my mind; "why did I not call the police?" (usually it takes too long for them to get there, it is faster to handle the situation yourself), "I should have took the bag off of his back", "why was I not more aggressive?" were some of the thoughts that made me regret letting him go. I was very frustrated and was wishing I could find him to pursue the cause further, maybe to teach him a lesson. Yet, God reminded me that He is in control and will have the final say on His day of righteous judgement. I had to let it go, there was nothing more I could do besides prepare for next time.

This is where God really spoke to me. In the morning, the thoughts were still on my mind and I knew I needed to pray more. So, I did. I once again was irritated that this man would steal and lie to me, yet I let him go with the items. I was at fault. Yet I also let him go without the chance to hear the Gospel. Looking into how God views theft, the first passage that I found was 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, giving the reminder of our own sins and how we can help right the wrongs of others by ministering to them. God told me to dust off my feet because I did confront him, but the situation was already over and he did not give anything back. However, reading the commentary on 1 Corinthians 6 really showed me that God has the final say when it comes to sin. Yet, as believers, we have the responsibility to confront sin, regardless of who it is, and to show boldness in our faith so that the sinner may repent. God may not be using me to minister at the grocery store right now, but he is certainly using the grocery store to minister to me.

May God lead you in your faith and his calling for you, so that others may see his love through you. Amen.