1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NKJV) Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. BUT you were washed, BUT you were sanctified, BUT you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Christians come out of all kinds of different backgrounds, including those Paul listed in the previous paragraph. BUT when we come to Christ, we are washed, sanctified, and justified by the Holy Spirit in the name of the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes and lives in us and brings with Him the fruit of the Spirit, and the power to overcome sin. He can deliver us from "the can't help its".
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV) No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; BUT God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, BUT with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
A few years after the Lord saved me (in early 2000s), I was sitting in my home office and the Lord spoke to me and said, "I am the great artist of your soul. You are My workmanship, BUT you keep ruining My work." I was reminded of that passage in the book of Jeremiah where he talks about the Potter and the clay. Jeremiah said that the vessel the Potter was making did not turn out as he had hoped so he crushed it into a lump of clay again, and started over. The lump of clay that's writing this blogpost, had to come into agreement with the Potter and great artist of my soul and let Him mold me into the vessel He had purposed me for.
Joshua said in Joshua 24:15 ,"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... BUT as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove