Can I just say that I love hearing young Black boys talk about God.
It’s actually not everyday Black-on-Black crime, or that men are trash or that Black men don’t cheat. Sometimes let’s hear about what the wonderful men of God are doing for the Kingdom of God.
Honestly, God bless the boys from the 29:11 podcast because I’ve learnt so much from them. When I say they literally speak in scripture, I love it.
I feel like they’re my little brothers even though I don’t know them.
Their recent episode ‘Backsliding’ gave me too many funny quotes for this blog.
Feeling convicted in the clurbbbbbb
Let’s go back in time real quick to 1st year uni when I used to go to the clurbbb a lot.
I knew I shouldn’t have been there the first time I went. But did that stop me from going? Claro que no. Do you wanna know why? Because I hardened my heart, didn’t I?
It was them ones when you’re feeling convicted initially, then you just begin to ignore it. I ignored the conviction from the Holy Spirit telling me that I should not be in a place like that.
Maybe my uni experience would have turned out completely different had I listened to the Holy Spirit.
But guess what? It’s all a learning experience and I can’t change what happened in the past. But I can learn from it and decide not to make the same mistake again. Tbh, in certain situations, I don’t think you can make the same mistake twice. It’s a choice the second time.
Flirting with what could destroy you
I think it’s so funny how sometimes we think we know what’s best for us. These times God knows our triggers, before we even realise. He knows whether a person is good for us or not. He knows everything.
Napz (from 29:11 pod) said, ‘People are too curious for their own good’. This links with self-control (#2 – Self-control and satisfying the desires of your heart) because it’s not everything that you see that you need to try. Not everything that glithens is gold. Just because something seems good it doesn’t mean that it is. A path may seem right but in the end, it leads to death (Proverbs 16:25).
The things of the world may seem attractive, and it can seem like you’re missing out on something. But love, all the things of this world are temporary. We are in the world but not of this world. We’re meant to be the light. A city on a hill and all of them tings (Matthew 5:14).
Why would I want to be drifting away from God and towards the world?
What does the world even have to offer me?
Why would I want to flirt with things that are able to destroy me (shout out Tovares for this)?
Feeling convicted and true repentance
Back to the clurbbb. It’s a place where ‘your hormones can start salsa-ing and you do a madting’ (when Kwabz said this I screamed). Bueno, this ‘madting’ could result in sin.
It’s a thing whereby before you sin, you know it’s wrong, yet you still do it. ‘Just to feel pleasure for one second and guilt for the rest of the day’ (Dsqrd). Then this is how sin will get you into a vicious cycle.
Déjame explicártelo: when you sin, depending on how deep you feel the sin is, this could affect how long it takes for you to go back to God and repent. During this period, you could begin to develop feelings of condemnation and guilt, resulting in you taking even longer to repent because you’re scared of God.
‘You don’t even have to sacrifice a goat on the mains’ (I honestly don’t know how Bien came up with this). All you have to do is just go to God, be honest and repent. Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy (Proverbs 28:13).
You should be feeling convicted before you sin as you know you should be doing better, just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do (1 Peter 1:15). After you’ve sinned, condemnation creeps in laced with self-pity, and instead of wallowing in these negative emotions you should decide to take responsibility for your actions and repent. Prove by the way that you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God (Matthew 3:8). Remember that godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death (2 Corinthians 7:10).
Maybe just listen the first time
Hardening your heart to God and His conviction is so dangerous because it’s basically switching off the safety net for your life bro. Don’t be scared when you feel convicted, but listen and pay attention to what God is trying to tell you. As obedient children, you shouldn’t conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance (1 Peter 1:14). Once you’ve come to Christ, you can’t be living the way you used to before.
Once you’ve tasted the goodness of God why would you want to leave it, or chase after what will never satisfy?
Resources
Song
‘I don’t want it if you’re not in it, I just want you’ – we need to love God more than sin and be obedient to Him.
Podcast
This is the episode that inspired this blog:
