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Ever feel stuck in a sin-shame-repent-repeat loop? Karl Clauson, author of Killing Sin, unpacks how habitual sins trap believers in circles. Karl relays practical, Spirit-empowered steps to mortify sin, redeem unseen time, and reclaim the intimacy, freedom, and abundant life you thought you'd lost.

Thanks for tuning into FamilyLife today. If you heard us on your local radio station, don’t worry you have found that same programming here in a full length episode.

Show Notes and Resources

• Get the book: "Killing Sin: Breaking the Cycle of Sin & Shame to Find Spiritual Freedom"
• Check out his podcast Carl and Crew Morning Show

• Find resources from this podcast at shop.familylife.com.
• See resources from our past podcasts.
• Find more content and resources on the FamilyLife's app!
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Jim cracked me up with the story he told in his recent family newsletter. He and his honey were enjoying some personal time at the Atlantic Ocean, which is really big. Jim decided to take a picture of himself and the ocean, which is really big. Later, he made a disturbing discovery which he reported this way. "I think I missed the ocean!" Which is really big. Oh, he's in the picture, but the Atlantic is nowhere to be seen. Now how can a smart guy miss something as big and as beautiful as the ocean? Well, by totally focusing on himself.

I've made that mistake. Missing the big thing because I was so focused on myself. I suspect I'm not alone.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What You Miss When You're a Selfie."

When we're hurting, when we're grieving, when we're grappling with this big problem, we tend to go inward and become all about ourselves. We miss the person we married because we're so focused on our frustrations with them. Before we married them, we magnified what we loved and minimized what bothered us. Now we're all about our frustrations with them, forgetting all we loved about them. So it's selfie time. All about me. Losing sight of the one we once could not live without. So we stop loving like we did, and they start responding to the change.

We can miss our kids the same way. By dwelling on how they're disappointing us, defying us, or distancing themselves from us. So we're sucked into a cycle of seeing - and talking about - only what they need to change. Not seeing - and talking about - the big picture of their strengths and their potential. We focus the lens on our hurt and our fear and our frustration, and we miss the big stuff. That masterpiece God made and entrusted to you in that child.

I know how much my picture can become a selfie when I'm going through a hurting time. Pain tends to make us selfish: self-centered, self-pitying and all those nasty self words. But my Bible tells me that there's always something bigger going on than the immediate situation. It's affirmed in our word for today from the Word of God from Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good to those who love God, and are called according to His purpose." And the Bible says, "I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).

There's a Big Plan for my good. But I'll miss the big and beautiful part if I just focus on my pain. When my precious Karen was suddenly gone that May, my natural tendency was to be all about me - my grief, my life without her, my future.

But, thankfully, God quickly rescued me from my selfie. And He began to show me what I could become through this greatest heartbreak of my life. I can honestly say my heart is more open than it's ever been - open to God's voice, open to letting my journey help somebody else on their journey, open to broken and breaking hearts that are all around me.

What's scary is that our "selfie" can actually cause us to miss the biggest and most beautiful sight of all - the God who made us. We so want to have life our way that we live as if we've dethroned Him from the throne of our life. In the Bible's words, "Each of us has turned to His own way" (Isaiah 53:6). And, you know, all those choices where we've sort of said, "God, You run the universe, but I'll run me" - well, in the Bible's words they have "separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). And you knew that without listening today, you could feel that gap between you and Him.

All about me. Missing the God who's the reason we're here; whose love we're made for. Who thought we were worth sending His Son to die for.

Maybe this is the day that you release the wheel of your life - your selfie life - to the One you were made to know and made to belong to. And the One

Read: Psalm 139:14-18

When Emmalyn got home from school, she went straight to her room, flopped face-first on her bed, and began to cry.

Soon there was a knock at her door. “Emmalyn, it’s Mom. Can I come in?” Emmalyn managed to let out a muffled yes, and Mom came in and sat down on the bed. “What’s wrong?” Mom asked.

Emmalyn sniffled. “Judson noticed that I’m the only one with red hair in our class. He made jokes about redheads all day and even got the other kids to call me carrottop!” She wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Can I dye my hair a different color, Mom? Please?”

Mom was silent as she stared at Emmalyn’s bedroom wall. Emmalyn had a very special bedroom wall. Last summer her uncle had come and helped her paint a mural of a tropical scene on it. “Well,” Mom finally said, “I guess we’ll have to go to the store and pick up some hair dye. While we’re at it, we should pick up a gallon of white paint to cover up your mural.”

“What?” Emmalyn looked shocked. “Why? Uncle Joe and I worked hard on that, and it turned out really well. It’s a one-of-a-kind masterpiece!”

“Well, you want to change your hair so you can be just like your classmates, and I know none of them have a bedroom wall like yours,” said Mom. “So we should get rid of that too.”

Emmalyn stared at her mom for a few moments before she finally understood. “Oh, I get it. You’re trying to tell me that I’m a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, just like the mural on my wall.”

“That’s exactly right,” said Mom. “God made you the way you are, and He loves you—so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for you! And He created you to show His love to others in your own unique way. So don’t try to change yourself just to make other people happy—you’re beautiful just the way you are because you belong to Jesus.”

Mom gave Emmalyn a tight hug, and Emmalyn smiled as she looked at the mural on her wall and thought of herself as God’s masterpiece.

–Melissa Yeagle

How about you? Has anyone ever made fun of you for the way you look? It hurts when that happens, but remember God made you the way you are and He loves you. He made you for a special purpose—to know Jesus and share Him with others in your own unique way. Your beauty doesn’t depend on other people’s opinions about how you look. You’re beautiful because you know Jesus!

Today's Key Verse: For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

Today's Key Thought: You are God’s masterpiece

Are you allowing comparison or fear to rob you of God-given opportunities in your life?

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On a sunny afternoon, I drew with sidewalk chalk with the Sudanese family next door. We could hear singing coming from the house next to theirs where a small group holds worship services. The young mom I was talking with was curious about what was going on, so she and I walked over and listened in. They invited us to gather with them. A young man, standing in a tank filled with water for baptism, spoke about receiving forgiveness for his sins and committing himself to follow Jesus.

This was a unique opportunity for us to hear a testimony of salvation in the yard right next door. This group was being the church in our neighborhood.

Jesus is building His church around the world. In the days before His ascension, He told His followers that He would send the Spirit to live in them and that they would be His witnesses “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). He would build His church through their Spirit-empowered preaching and teaching. And immediately God began to add “to their number daily those who were being saved” (2:47).

We can be a part of building Christ’s church by being His church as we live out our faith in our neighborhoods and share with others what He’s done for us. He gave His life and was resurrected so that we might be forgiven and have eternal life. And He’ll help us learn how to serve others in His church today.

Katherine Wolf says, “If hope is only rooted in an outcome, then your expectations will crush you.” Katherine knows this truth in a deeply personal way. At just 26, she suffered a massive stroke, yet God has used her journey to bring hope to countless others. On the next Faith & Finance Live with Rob West, she shares how that hardship has reshaped her life, her faith, and even her finances. Then it’s your calls. That’s Faith and Finance Live—biblical wisdom for your financial journey. That’s weekdays at 4pm Eastern/3pm Central on Moody Radio.

Faith & Finance Live is a listener supported program on Moody Radio.  To join our team of supporters, click here.

To support the ministry of FaithFi, click here.

To learn more about Rob West, click here.

To learn more about Faith & Finance Live, click here.

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Segment 1

• How can Christians balance all aspects of truth about God?

• We can’t reduce God to JUST wrath or love.

• What does it mean to have an “eternal inheritance”?

Segment 2

• Culture is crushing young men. Does the church have an answer?

• Nick Freitas shares hard truths about the struggles of young men.

• Does your church, counterculturally, point towards marriage and family?

Segment 3

• 43% of evangelicals believe good deeds get you into heaven.

• If Christians don’t even understand the gospel, how can they share it?

• The law must be presented before the gospel can be received in faith.

Segment 4

• Shocking percentages of both Catholics and Christians believe there are many ways to heaven.

• There is a correct way, biblically, that we are to respond to the gospel.

• There may be movement in the Trump family towards accepting the gospel by faith.

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Thanks for listening!

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