REALIZING OUR SIN
Words like GRACE, PEACE, and FORGIVENESS are often lost on prisoners who are in the middle of spending years under a sentence.
I find that today there are still many who profess Christ as Lord who still remains under a life sentence of guilt because they cannot let go of what God has forgiven them of time and time again. The reason for that is simple...we must not pick the sin back up and take it with us after we have placed it in the hands of Christ. For lack of a better term, let's call these our "SECRET SINS" because these are the things we remain convicted of, and yet are not consciously aware of carrying around with us. In some way, by picking these problems and convictions of sin back up and carrying them with us we remain chained to them and held captive by them without ever realizing what they are.
Our real problem isn't that we don't ask for forgiveness from God, but that we don't allow God to take away the pain and the guilt of sin. We have not yet learned how to forgive and forget those things in our past that have accused us and tied us to an unbelievable imprisonment to this world. Some of us in Christ are tied so tightly to this world that we cannot even stand on our own to give God the glory for salvation. In fact, some are tied so tightly to this world today that they have not felt the power of freedom in Christ for many years. When was the last time that you felt the freedom from sin that you did when you first came to Christ and realized you were forgiven and in His arms?
I can remember when I was a small child the freedom that I felt in not having any real responsibility. I didn't understand of course that the freedom that I felt when I was secure and protected by my parents would ever go away, and so I had no future worries either at that time. I spent many years in search of that feeling again, and I thought when I found Christ that it would come back after that first rush of freedom I felt upon salvation, but it did not last even then until I began to understand the reasons. I was not allowing God to be the complete Lord of my life.
I cannot ask God's forgiveness and then pick the trouble back up and drag it off with me. The sin, the guilt and the memories of those things we are supposed to be rid of must all be left at the foot of the cross. If God has said He will cast them as far away from us as the East is from the West then so should we, and never dwell on them again because if we do we will remain chained to them. It is just like our rejection of God's forgiveness being applied each time we allow ourselves to do that. There isn't any wonder why so many Christians are beaten down and tired of the struggle when we look at all they are carrying around with them unnecessarily. It is time for each of us to take the time to come to the Father and lay all of this down, and then leave it there. That includes remembering that sin, heartache, and pain no more! Just give it to the Lord! May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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