Seminar with Sy Rogers

Well, last weekend’s Seminar with Sy Rogers was nothing short of a blast, I’m sure many of you would agree. Sy Rogers IS extremely gifted, not to mention downright hilarious. More than anything, his messages are founded on essential truths and life experiences.

Over the weekend, Sy Rogers shared about raising sexually healthier children in a world of risk and ministered to those who might have gone through similar experiences in their lives. What ministered to me the most was his message on ‘Thoroughness’.

If you are an ardent follower of my blog, which you should be (ahem), you might have read an entry I was wrote, titled ‘Sin and Redemption’, followed by another titled ‘Homosexuality’. Some time ago, I had a powerful revelation about what it means to be a sinner and how God can redeem us in spite of our sins. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, all of us are human and we will fall short. Like what Sy Rogers quoted, Christians in church should really be called ‘Sinners Anonymous’. We are not perfect and we often fall victim to temptation. These temptations do not simply disappear with a wave of God’s magic wand, but we become stronger and overcome by choosing God over that particular temptation over and over again. It’s very much like being in a relationship. A married couple may be tempted by other more beautiful and good looking people out there, but choosing to remain faithful and true to their spouse, in spite of being surrounded by hunks and babes from all the corners of the earth, now that is true love.

Yet, in spite of that revelation, I never really thought about being thoroughly cleansed by God. On Sunday evening, Sy Rogers shared about Naaman in 2 Kings 5. Naaman was an excellent soldier, respected by everyone, but a leper. After seeking a prophet of God (Elisha) to cleanse himself of lerosy, Naaman was told to dip in the River Jordan seven times, and he was thoroughly cleansed, his skin like that of a little child.

That message really hit me. All of us have certain things we struggle with in our lives. We may have to humble ourselves and take the advice of servants and subordinates, we may have to actively seek out the prophet of God and we may have to do seemingly embarrassing and useless things like dipping ourselves in the river seven times, but at the end of the day, GOD WILL CLEANSE US OF OUR LEPROSY. Yes, we have to try, we have to keep choosing God, we have to keep dipping ourselves in the river, but GOD WILL CLEANSE OUR LEPROSY.

Never before have I been confronted with my humanity in such a powerful manner. As we all stood up to worship and spend time in the presence of God, I thought about all those who have struggled and fought difficult battles in their lives. Some people have given up and conformed to the world, accepting their weaknesses and giving up the fight altogether. What if they had stayed and continued dipping in the river the third time, the fifth time, the seventh time? A thorough cleansing was promised; it is not God who cannot follow through, it is us. And while many of may try to succeed in our own strengths and capabilities, dipping in the river seven times, seventy times or even seventy times seven times would not have quite the same effect as when it is a spoken word from God. This is why we need God.

It is a decision we have to make. Do we choose to be people who have given up the fight, who have chosen to be held captive by the sins they struggle with? Or do we choose to be people who are aware of our sins, and even more aware that God can thoroughly cleanse us of these sins?

Keep going…don’t give up.:)