Are you troubled by the wrongdoing of your past? Do you feel guilt and remorse for what you did in your past? Sins can stick to us and ruin us with mental anguish.
God forgives repentant sinners
If troubled by our past… we need to remind ourselves, reinforce in our mind — the truth of what the Bible teaches us:
God forgives all (any) repentant sinners for all (any) of their sins.
He does not remember those sins against us ever again. Ever!
They are “gone, gone — gone, gone — yes my sins are gone!” (- old song). So why be troubled? Why beat ourselves up with our failures? God never does. Satan does. And our own weak thinking does. Isn’t God a better example of what to do with “sins” of our past?
God forgives. Do you? How far away do you put away the sins of others? Or…of your own? Are those sins on the front of your mind, condemning others, condemning yourself?
God forgives all truly repentant sinners
for all their sins – no exception.
God removes the stain of our sins as far ————— as the east is from the west. That is pretty far! 1
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our wrongdoings from us. 2
– Psalm 103:12
The consecuences of doing wrong can be quite severe, for anyone.
* The law may come, and take you away
* You may lose your job
* People may condemn you and reject you
* You may lose your family and friends
* Gossip about you may run rampant
* Memories may ruin your peace of mind
* You may persistently condemn yourself
God disciplines His errant ones
Even as a born again believer, we can repent and be restored to fellowship with God, but… He is our Father, a divine, loving Father, and as such He may choose to discipline us.
Hebrews 12:6
For the Lord disciplines and corrects those whom He loves, And He punishes every son whom He receives and welcomes [to His heart].”
Hebrews 12:10
For our earthly fathers disciplined us for only a short time as seemed best to them; but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
The “discipline” God gives us is not like the punishments often brought down harshly by mere human fathers. God’s dealings with us are always right, always proper and always done as only a divinely loving Father God can do. If He has received you, and welcomed you “to His heart”, then without a doubt you will be disciplined.
God’s discipline comes on us to correct our ways… “so that we may share His holiness” (Hebrews 12:10). When we learn from His discipline, we err less. We are more His. We resist the enemies of our soul. We more consistently maintain a sparkling clean soul.
As we mature (if we do…) we make less mistakes, violate God’s standards less, wander less. We become more like Christ. My prayer and my aim is:
Oh to be like Jesus
more and more
more each day
How I “do life”
Life is not an easy road. No. It is not. While in this “temp tent” we will always deal with the downward pull of the enemies of our soul. But when we sin, God’s discipline helps us correct our path, teaches us, encourages us, and builds us up to further maturing.
“…life here is not a simple walk through the park, through a Garden of Eden. Never has been since the apple of Eve, the Fall of man.
I must guard my heart. I must guard my willfulness. I must guard against the sins that easily beset me. I must guard against the desire of my heart. I must guard my steps. I must be watchful over how I “do life” (Ephesians 4:17-32). Or righteousness will be quite sporadic, a distant ideal, pie-in-the-sky by-and-by.
I want to be a more righteous man – now. (I refuse to wait until I get to Heaven.) So I guard my soul. I celebrate victories, and I settle failures quickly. (Well, I aim to anyway.)”
– The well-guarded soul
The reality of “sinning and forgiving”
When God forgives — He REALLY forgives! He is not like the weak and frail believers (the unforgiving, the finger-pointers, the gossips) who don’t get it, who can’t grasp this whole reality of “sinning and forgiving” within the framework of what God is calling us to.
Some “believers” are hating on others (1 John 3:14), perpetually unforgiving (malicious; Ephesians 4:31-32), habitually condemning (gossiping), living in “a world of illusion” (verse 9 of 1 John 1:9-10). 3
“A world of illusion”
We all struggle with our own wrongdoing. If we’re honest.
– 1 John 1:9-10 PHILLIPS
“If we refuse to admit that we are sinners, then we live in a world of illusion —- and truth becomes a stranger to us.
But if we freely admit that we have sinned, we find God utterly reliable and straightforward—he forgives our sins and makes us thoroughly clean from all that is evil.
For if we take up the attitude “we have not sinned”, we flatly deny God’s diagnosis of our condition and cut ourselves off from what he has to say to us.”
It is a given that we will at times fail to be perfect (“mature”). Nevertheless, my goal is to be righteous in all of my ways: to be perfect in all that I do. How ’bout you?
My past “with it’s sins” does not have to dictate my present. (As Paul said: “…and such were some of you” – 1 Corinthians 6:11 and 1 John 1:9-10.)
Unfortunately it appears sometimes that we perpetually (v31) struggle more with the sins of others. Instead of loving them, forgiving them – we condemn them. It’s easy to condemn, so we resist the call of His Spirit to always be forgiving of them and their sins. Do you find that to be true?
“The goal of true maturity”
We can choose to stay the same. Or not. We can change the way we act, the way we treat others, the way of our mind. I want to work at that more. How about you?
Romans 12:2 PHILLIPS
…Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.
Readily and freely (v32)
Are you still wrapped up in a condemning mode? Still failing to forgive? Still into gossiping about those who have failed? Still looking down on someone, or some group? Still intolerant, unkind, callous…? (Ephesians 4:17-32)? Or are you letting “God re-mould” your mind?
Perpetual, repeating, same sins
“let all… be put away”: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding, slander, all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence – From Ephesians 4:31-32.
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence]. 32 Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave [a]you.
– Ephesians 4:31-32
I’m not real good at it, but I’m still a’ workin’ more on being consistently kind, helpful, tender-hearted, forgiving, putting the interests and needs of others first…. How ’bout you?
“…learn to see things
from other people’s
point of view.”
– Philippians 2:1-4
FOR MORE:
Being faithful little by little
I am not the sum of all my sins
Being a Temp in our temporary tent
Hating is life changing – eternal life changing. Scary thought.
The non-stop work of God inside you and me
Living the good life with courage and confident hope
Philippians 2:1-4 “…in humility think more of each other than you do of yourselves. None of you should think only of his own affairs, but should learn to see things from other people’s point of view.”
Footnotes
- Psalm 103:10-14
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our guilty deeds.11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who [c]fear Him.12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our wrongdoings from us.13 Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who [d]fear Him.
14 For He Himself knows [e]our form;
He is mindful that we are nothing but dust.
– Psalm 103:10-14. - “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.” – Isaiah 40:verses 1-2
“…her iniquity is pardoned,
…she has received of Yahweh’s hand
double for all her sins.”
– Isaiah 40:verse 2.
1 John 3:14
We know
that we have passed
out of death into Life,
because we love the brothers and sisters.
He who does not love
remains in [spiritual] death.
Hate is “eternal-life-changing”. Scary thought.
– Source: Hating is life changing – eternal life changing. Scary thought.
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