Reading a newsletter Sunday afternoon, I came across an article by David Brickner who is the Executive Director of Jews For Jesus. In it he is discussing Yom Kippur. I found a particular passage interesting and applicable to me as a Christian:
“To experience God’s forgiveness is so amazing, so life changing. Yet many people either don’t allow themselves to admit their need, or else struggle to believe it is really possible. Why should God forgive me? I surely don’t deserve it.
The psalmist says as far as east is from the west, so far has God removed his (our) sins. Now if it were as far as north is from the south, there are two such points: the North and South poles. But there is no point where east and west meet. God removes our sins to where no one can ever find them.”
I have met many people on both sides of this point. In fact, I have been on both sides: sometimes thinking my sins were so bad God would never forgive me, and sometimes thinking what I was doing wasn’t so bad that I needed to confess it and seek forgiveness.
Through the atonement of Jesus Christ we have been completely forgiven. Not that it gives us the green light to go and sin as we please. But it does mean, that as humans in our imperfection, when we stumble and fall short, we have Jesus who goes to the Father on our behalf and pleads our case that we be forgiven.
God is a loving God. He did not want to be separated from us anymore. He came up with a way that we can get instant forgiveness and stay united with Him. Sure, we have work to do to set our wrongs back to right. We must clean up our messes here on earth. But we do not have to carry the burden of sin around once we have sincerely come to the Throne of Grace and have been honestly regretful about what we have done.
Are you carrying around guilt for something that God has already dealt with and forgiven?
LET IT GO ! If you need to make things right again – get to it. Then let it go.
Are you just out there living your life anyway you want?
Do you know there is a loving God ready to forgive the harm we cause?
If you don’t know about Jesus I would be happy to share with you.
BUT if you do know, and are a Christian by profession of faith, and you are just living any way you want…thinking that you have time to get right with the Lord — STOP IT! No one is guaranteed a long life for a bedside confession. And no one is promised even the rest of today.
Get right with God and then clean up your behavior. There is no reason any of us should be going around harming ourselves and other people. Most sin comes down to that. As in: being a thief, adultery, gossip, lies, disobeying and disrespecting our parents, cheating people out in our work or paying back money, being drunk (or addiceted to drugs), violence against others; and the list could go on and on. Think of any sin you can come up with and in almost every case someone is harmed—us or others—and always God.
We have so much to be thankful for!
Let’s not let our mistakes stand in the way of honoring God and having a relationship with God.
Until Next Time ~
Blessings, Kate
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