Houston, We Have A Problem

10/20/2011

Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.

Bible Verse of the Day: 1 John 1:9 " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

There is a big problem in every person's life and it is called Sin. Sin is defined as the willful disobedience of God. If left unresolved, it will bring us much hardship and pain in our lifetime's. The problem with sin is it lasts longer than we want it to stay, and it costs us more than we want to pay. We cannot hide from our sin, even though we pretend that we can just sweep it under the carpet and pretend it never happened or has no lasting consequences. Sin will torment our souls as long as we allow it to lay dormant in our lives. But thankfully, God understands our condition and proclivity to sinning, so He gives us a way out. If we are willing to admit our mistakes, and ask for His forgiveness through His precious Son, Jesus Christ, than we can be free from our guilt and shame and be "cleansed from all unrighteousness" as the Bible Verse above tells us. There is incredible freedom in laying your sin at His feet and letting go of all of those things that have been weighing your soul down. We cannot trick our souls. We may be able to fool some people for some amount of time, and even believe ourselves that we have gotten away with whatever sinful act that we have committed, but our soul knows the truth and it cannot be deceived. We eventually will become tired of carrying around the weight of our unresolved sin. We will become restless. We must lay our head on our pillow at night, and when we become subconsciously aware of the deep seeded sin in our lives, we have to make a choice. Do we continue to try to hide from the truth or do we confess our mistakes, let go of our burdens and find rest and peace in God's promises of forgiveness. Isaiah 1:18 says " Let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool." God always is waiting to forgive us and release us from our self inflicted bondage. He is as patient as we are stubborn. He won't grow weary in waiting for His lost sheep to return home as illustrated in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. However, we often try to manipulate the situation into one of control and we think that we have the right to make decisions in a vacuum while trying to escape the dogma of religious doctrine. We are, after all, masters of our domain. But in reality, when we choose ourselves in acts of sin, the consequences of that action always reverberate through many other lives. Adultery is a good example, for it is born of our pride to conquer another body for physical enjoyment. The physical pleasure may last a short while, but the pain that the sinful act can cause can last a lifetime and effect many lives.This is what God is trying to prevent. He knows that our sin will have a cascading effect on the lives of those around us and he wants to protect us from our own destruction and the destruction of many lives who get caught up in the friendly fire of our sinful decisions. When our response is to ignore the ramifications of our actions, and instead we dig our heels in a little deeper, we only worsen our predicament. We usually commit more egregious sins as we try to run from our initial sin. See the story of David and Bathsheba for a useful reference. Instead of just admitting his error in judgement for sleeping with the wife of his best friend Uriah, he compounds the situation through lies and manipulation that ultimately leads him to the desperate situation of feeling the only way out of this predicament is to have his friend killed in battle. His original sin, rather than being repented of and dealt with through the forgiveness of the grace of God, instead quickly ensnared him and led to a much larger problem. God is saying, I know you and your sinful ways, and I still am able to forgive you. Won't you come to me and let my grace wash over you? I have personally experienced that feeling of the weight of sin being washed away in God's grace and there is no feeling like it in the world. I literally felt like I was floating once I was willing to admit my mistakes, take comfort from the storms of my own doing in His love and find forgiveness in His grace. I find now that I am more willing to quickly admit my sins to Him on an ongoing basis, as the therapy soothes my soul. He continues to reveal the depths of my sin to me, some so subtle that I didn't even know they existed, so that I can be purged. God wants to give us a clear conscience, free from the restlessness that is born out of our own guilt and shame. What are we waiting for? Our pride and lust for control keeps us from experiencing the incredible power of God's forgiveness in our lives. Instead of running from Him, we should be running to Him. For that is where we will find forgiveness that will truly set us free and we will feel the grace that can change our lives forever. All glory and honor be to God.