I'M SAVED... WHY DO I STILL STRUGGLE?

Galatians 6:7 - Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 2 Corinthians 9:6 - But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Psalm 126:5 - Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Hosea 10:12 - Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. I currently suffer for a major sin I committed in my past. You see, a year or two ago, I had to make a choice... and I chose wrong. I stood in an ATT store and picked an apple over android. I did this and now must continue to suffer the consequences of those actions: 1. Siri has yet to give me an answer to any question I ask. I'm not paying for "Hmmm.... I'm not sure I understand you." or "Sorry, I did not find an answer to your question." Now Alexa, on the other hand, has an answer for every question....

2. While Siri cannot understand me when I speak, she is certainly always listening and frequently interrupts me on my iWatch... even when I'm preaching.

3. When I absolutely need to get to my phone quickly and either answer it, or check my calendar, email, texts, etc... I have to put in a password that I cannot remember, and when I do, I have to have all my devices around me so I can get a code for a 2 step verification.... Sometimes, I just don't have those things around me. So I move on with life.

4. Even when I only have one hand available, and try to use facial recognition to open my phone... it seems to know... and tells me it doesn't recognize me, so I'll have to put in a pass code.... then it tells me it sent a verification code to a device I don't have with me.

You get the idea... (but obviously Apple designers don't)

Even after accepting Christ, we may still suffer the temporal consequences of our past sins[1].

For example, a person who becomes a Christian in prison may not be released from prison the next day, and a born-again Christian who falls into adultery may lose his family and career, even after confessing and forsaking his sin[1][2].

However, our salvation guarantees that we will not face the eternal consequences of sin[1]. Confession is the process that God uses to cut sin out of our lives and refine the character of Jesus in us[3]. So this is my public confession that I have chosen the wrong company to use for all of my online business.

While sin in our life does not stain the perfect coating of Jesus' forgiveness on our lives, it does get in the way of a healthy relationship with God and our ability to reflect his perfect character[3]. As long as I continue to use my apple devices, they will continue to throw curveballs at me, frustrate me, and keep me from doing my best work.

Therefore, repentance is necessary to maintain a healthy relationship with God and to refine our character[3]. Until I finally decide to trade in my apple junk for another brand... I have realized that the devices I'm holding onto will continue to bring trouble into my life. Perhaps, I need to just chuck all of my iDevices and switch to something better... well, d'uh! Isn't that what repentance teaches us to do with our sinful behaviors?

Every Christian struggles with sin every day of their life, and even the apostle Paul complained about doing the very thing he hated[5]. However, if someone is determined to live an unchristian life even after receiving the knowledge of the truth, we might assume that they never really accepted Christ in the first place[5].

If a person has truly received God's gracious gift of faith, then that person will go to heaven upon death regardless of how many sins they may have committed[6].

So I guess this means ... there will be NO cell phones in Heaven... Oh what a day that will be.

Citations: [1] https://www.gotquestions.org/sin-consequences.html [2] https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/why-do-i-still-struggle-with-my-pre-conversion-sins [3] https://thelife.com/forgiven-for-past-present-future [4] https://thecatholicspirit.com/faith/focus-on-faith/ask-father-mike/why-do-i-still-feel-badly-about-my-sins-after-ive-confessed/ [5] https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-qa/willful-sin-after-salvation-and-eternal-security/ [6] https://versebyverseministry.org/bible-answers/can-someone-continue-in-sin-and-still-be-saved