Thoughts of Freedom and Sin

All have sinned and fallen short (by a long way) of the glory of God. We as Christians know this better than anyone else. But when we come to the LORD, we know that he sets us free, cleanses us, and makes us new. An amazing thing.

I am not like some, who had a horrible life before they came to the LORD, but I know this is the case for many. I can't put myself in their shoes of course, but it seems like being free and cleansed in Christ would be a whole different experience than it has been for me. I can't remember any heinous sins I committed before the age of four when I accepted Christ--my relationship with God has always kind of been there and been growing as time goes on. So I can't remember ever a time when I sinned and I didn't get a talk about it with the Holy Spirit. There have been MANY of those times and will be many more. I still get upset over my sin and get frustrated that it's still there--after all, I've been disrespectful since I was four, why does it go on? You know what I mean?

All that to lead up to this: my experience with sin is different than some of those who come to Christ later in life. Some have done horrible things that were detestable to God even before they knew him, and now that they do know him they are very upset about them. Let's say there was a guy who spent every day of his life for 3 years killing one person per day. After the daily murder, let's say he went on to a bank and robbed a different bank of at least $50,000 every day. Then we'll say that every day after these things, he sold all kinds of drugs to school kids and spent the rest of his night causing fights in bars.

All this every day. And then he came to Christ.

After he came to Christ, I guess he'd turn himself in to the law and get sent to prison for...I'd guess that should be about the rest of his life :) But all the while in prison he spends the whole time studying the word, talking to pastors, listening to tapes, becomes a really nice guy, and starts a ministry in the prison that converts several other prisoners to Christ. Now this man LOVES the LORD like crazy, and now he feels as awfully about his life as you or I would. Or worse.

What should his attitude be?

God says his grace and mercy are limitless, and this man would be just as much his child as I am. This much I know. His sin would be rendered powerless against God. But he still did it. It was all still committed. He could bemoan his past and all the things he did, constantly saying what a horrible person he was, and suffer in his dreams every night because of his past sin. He could resolve not to get into deep relationships with anyone because he wouldn't want to involve them in who he had been. If he did these things, I would not blame him in the least--it almost seems that he SHOULD think this way after all that sin! I think I probably would!

But here is what I've been thinking about...is this mindset, even in these circumstances, honoring to God? If God's power and grace are more powerful than this sin, is it right to dwell on your past, now that you are clean? CAN you or SHOULD you behave as a cleansed and righteous one? My gut says that if the LORD has freed you, you are free indeed, and can tell all with a clear conscience that you are the child of God that you are and not different than any other of God's saved ones. My gut says that dwelling in the past is insulting the blood of the Lamb, who has got rid of this past.

But something else (maybe it's my head) thinks that still bemoaning your past and your sin makes sense and is ok...we ARE supposed to grieve about our sin, and maybe if you had THAT MUCH sin than this would be an ok measure to take. Maybe I just think it makes sense because this is probably what I would do in the circumstances.

This probably sounded completely random, but it's what I've been thinking :) Any thoughts?

Heads Held High

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

~ Leviticus 26:13

The Israelites were being oppressed and enslaved by the Egyptians, but God miraculously freed them. You may not be a slave to people, but what ARE you enslaved by? Jealousy? Temptation? Feelings? A sin that won't go away? Maybe all these things. I find I'm enslaved by little bitty sneaky things and don't know it until it grows and goes on and on - then it's harder to beat. But the good thing is... we don't have to beat it alone! It is much easier to talk to Jesus about your slavery than to try and free yourself (it worked for the Israelites didn't it?)

Ready to walk with your head held high?

Our Job

Well, according to my Bible reading plan, I was supposed to read in Jeremiah. I don't really care for Jeremiah, for some reason it's a tough read for me. But today I was reading and lots of things were underlined with notes and cool stuff I forgot about! "Whoa! Who knew this stuff was in Jeremiah?" BUT guess what? It wasn't in Jeremiah. I read in Isaiah. For some reason I didn't noticed the little word ISAIAH at the top of each page until the end... not good for the confidence!:P BUT who cares, I found another neat passage anyway!!! It talks about our job.

"This is what God the LORD says—

he who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it,

who gives breath to its people,

and life to those who walk on it:
"I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;

I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and will make you

to be a covenant for the people

and a light for the Gentiles,
to open eyes that are blind,

to free captives from prison

and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness."

When you hear of the cool things the police do, and the army search and rescue stuff, you think, "Whoa, cool!!!!!!!!! Those people are so neat!" Tough, fearless, skilled, and ready!!! Don't mean to bust this in on ya folks, but guess what? That's what God calls us to do for souls! We hare supposed to free captives from prison and show them the narrow way out of the cell!

Are we AWOL? Are we stepping out to do what God has called us to do?

Follow the Voice

Christian is in captivity. His tormentors - evil nasty creatures by the names of Doubt, Disappointment, Fear, Despair, Unforgiveness, and Hurt guard him at all times. They beat him, scar him, bring him down, never give him a chance to escape their clutches. He is in a cold, dark, iron prison cell. And he is blind - he cannot see his captors or his cell, but he can feel them. The cold stone engulfs him and the forbidding iron bars drive all hope from his heart. Day and night he sits in his distress, not knowing a way out. When things are at it's darkest, he hears a still small voice. He strains his ears - who was that? It is familiar: a voice he used to know very well, back before the hard times that drove him here, back when he could see. It calls him by name. Christian rises. He can see a Light! The voice calls, "I am your God. Follow me". He uncertainly takes a step forward. He puts a hand toward the Light, but touches the bars of the locked door. Despair and Fear jump in front of him and shove him back away from the door. Christian turns away from the Light and says, "see? The doors are shut, I can't get out."

The voice is persistent, "I have unlocked the door. You've only to throw it aside and follow me" Christian raises his brows. He puts a tentative hand on the bars. Doubt growls a warning and Christian flinches. He pushes on the door just a little, and Doubt charges him and throws him back again. Disappointment nods and pokes his memory with little reminders of past times when he escaped, only to be let down by the Light and captured again. The Father is still speaking. "Come! Walk with me!" This time Christian runs to the doors. Before he can even get to them, Unforgiveness and Hurt catch him. Fear tackles him. Disappointment pricks him. Doubt gnaws at him and Despair laughs at him. Christian calls to the Light, "I cannot get past these tormentors! Help me defeat them!" The Light shines brighter and the scourgers shriek and fall back. Christian leaps up and throws the door open, running to the Father.

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron. ~ Psalm 107:13-16

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." ~ Matthew 7:7

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners ~ Isaiah 61:1