I remember growing up and learning right and wrong. Most of the time I thought I was right but the majority of that time I was actually wrong. I grew up with 4 sibling, 3 brothers, and a sister. I can remember vividly a time where I learned right from wrong real quick….
I was around the age of 10 and I was riding in our family go-cart. Go-carts weren’t anything special back then, they were just a piece of metal attached to four wheels and an engine with a measly four bars to protect us from rolling over on ourselves. As I was riding with my older brother one day, I noticed something. I started to look at the grass and for some reason, I really wanted to touch it. BUT. I knew it wasn’t the best Idea. That’s the KEY here. I KNEW, somehow, that it wasn’t the best idea.
I can’t really explain what happen after that because all I remember was my arm scratched from wrist to shoulder after tumbling out of the cart and walking away thinking that it wasn’t as great as I thought it would be to touch the grass. Of course, my older brother got in trouble for my mistake, I felt bad because you can’t really prevent stupidity from happening, it just happens. I was ok afterward but I learned that it wasn’t the right decision to make that day.
Now let me tell you how that relates to our passage today. Mark 3 talks about the unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. After reading this passage multiple times, I started to want to learn more about what that meant. Can there truly be a sin that is unforgivable? Am I guilty of doing it? I started to feel unsure of myself. I grew up in the church and have been a Christ follower since I was 9 but after reading this passage I started to wonder if I have committed this sin and lost any chance of spending eternity with my savior. Read this verse with me:
“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”
After reading this once, wouldn’t you start to think and reflect a bit on your life? Let’s start to explain what this means. Blasphemy is defined as, “the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things.” (Merriam-Webster) When you blasphemy the Holy Spirit, you are speaking badly, or against, the Holy Spirit. The key to remember is that if you have accepted Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit will convict you. Conviction is where the grace of God comes in. Without conviction, there isn’t a chance for redemption. If there is no redemption, there is no need for a savior because there is no belief that one is in the wrong. Conviction can be simply put as knowing that you were in the wrong. When the conviction is gone, blaspheming the Holy Spirit is possible.
Just like the story above, when I was riding my go-cart and fell out I knew I shouldn’t have done it but I did. There was conviction, and I learned that it wasn’t a good idea to reach out of the moving go-cart.
Take this day to reflect on what the Holy Spirit has been convicting you about. Remember that Eternity with our savior is worth unimaginably more than any pleasure Sin temporarily brings into your life.