forgive

Feeling Guilty? Get Clean!

~ ckwills ~ Leave a comment

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. — 1 John 1:9

Yesterday I spent too much time watching TV and eating. Perhaps you can relate. The movie marathons on TV and the leftovers in the fridge got the best of me. My husband can walk away from a TV show five minutes before it ends, and often does! He doesn’t need to know the ending. He says the people aren’t real anyway, so it doesn’t matter. But I have to know the ending. The progression of the story is the most important part, so I hang on till the bitter end.

So this morning, I’m mad at myself for wasting hours yesterday. I don’t like what I let into my mind and heart, just because I wanted to see how the story ended.

That’s why I’m so glad that God allowed me to hear a message this last week in which the speaker said that God uses imperfect people. That’s me! I’m sure I will be struggling against something in my life till the day I die. But at least I’m struggling. Your struggles are different from mine, but we all have them. And if we’re struggling, we’re still in the race!

This morning, I prayed 1 John 1:9, a well-worn scripture for me: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The first time this scripture came to life for me was when God used it to help me receive His forgiveness for getting divorced. I got it! God’s forgiveness was mine because His word promised it. It was glorious!

Today, the second half of that scripture came to life to me. As I asked for forgiveness for yesterday, praying that scripture, the part about being cleansed from all unrighteousness dropped into my spirit like an atomic bomb. I didn’t have to give my sin any more space in my mind. I didn’t have to allow one more thought about yesterday, or one more tiny shred of guilt. All my unrighteousness was cleansed. Yesterday no longer stood between God and me. I stood clean before Him, ready to pray, believe, tell others about Him, or whatever. I was clean. Period. Or as the British say, full stop.

Wow! I got it!

God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. Our perfection comes through being in Jesus Christ. He knows we’re imperfect, that we will fail, choose sin, make foolish choices. Everything in Him directs us away from that, but when it happens (not often, I hope!), we can be cleansed from it! Fully clean and restored to God.

Is there something in your life, something you’ve done or said, that is standing between you and God? Stop right now and pray 1 John 1:9 over it. Believe that God is true to His word, and receive 1) forgiveness and 2) cleansing. It all takes faith, doesn’t it? We have to believe we’re forgiven and cleansed, even if we still feel guilty. Just say no to the guilt! Say yes to God’s being faithful to His promise to forgive you and scrub you clean.

Then spend your time with God as if nothing had ever happened.

Gotta go and get back with my time with God.

Love you!

Loving Our Enemies

~ ckwills ~ Leave a comment

Luke 6

One of the greatest differences between Christianity and religions is the way we are called to treat our enemies. We are not called to destroy or even get back at our enemies, but rather to love them. What does that mean?

First of all, do you have an enemy? Someone with a grudge against you, real or perceived? Someone who has tried to hurt you? Someone who is trying to get back at you for something you did or said, real or perceived? Someone who is persecuting you, mocking you, or ridiculing you because of your faith? (Frankly, we probably don’t have enough enemies for this last reason, do we?)

Jesus said that loving those who love us, doing good to those who do good to us, lending to those who can repay — that’s easy, and doing that accrues no credit to our “spiritual account.” Even sinners do that, He said. Christians are called to go beyond that.

Do good to those who hate you.

Don’t retaliate if someone takes your personal property, your dignity, or even infringes on your personal liberty.

Don’t judge. This words comes from a word meaning “to separate.” Whenever we start thinking in terms of “us vs. them,” we are judging. We have separated ourselves from them. We stand in the place of a judge.

Don’t condemn. Don’t judge and sentence someone. What are some sentences we give out? silence? excluding them? the cold shoulder? mean words? refusing to forgive or reconcile?

Forgive. Let them loose. Release them. Set them free from your personal judging and sentencing.

Give. After you stop trying to extract some kind of payment from your enemy, then give to them. Be generous with your love and your mercy.  Jesus promised that with the same measure we use, it will be given back to us.

Jesus calls us hypocrites when we judge and condemn others, because we have even greater sins, greater faults than they do. He tells us to deal with our own faults first before condemning others. And since getting the logs out of our own eyes is a lifelong job, we will never get around to judging others!

So, why are we asked to do good to those who don’t do good to us? to love those who hate us? to forgive those who have wronged us? to let others infringe on our personal rights? That’s a fair question, one with an eternally minded answer.

We are asked to do all these things so we can show the world who our Father is, what His characteristics are, what His nature is like. He is good to all. He extends forgiveness for all who choose to receive it. He judged and sentenced Jesus so He wouldn’t have to judge and sentence us. He sends His rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. He is merciful.

So we are to be all those things also, so the world can see the Father in us, and turn, and be saved.

Are you up for the challenge?