Monday, March 12, 2012

No Fishing!

by Aleta Kay

         This post may be similar to yesterday’s but is a slightly different angle. Guilt can damage or poison our relationships with others. It may cause you to push others away because you feel unworthy. There is hope. Read on.
Does guilt plague you? Does it wake you up at night and point its bony finger in your face? Do you beat yourself up, tell yourself how worthless and stupid you are? If so, this post is for you.
          First of all, yes, you are a sinner. Yes, you have made mistakes. There is only one person who ever lived who never made a mistake. His name is Jesus. Let me tell you about the wonderful forgiveness, love, joy, and peace that are available to you through the grace and mercy of the most Wonderful God-human who ever lived. (He’s also the only God-human who ever lived.)
          Jesus loves YOU so much that He took your punishment on the cross. He paid your sin debt because HE LOVES YOU. You can’t stop His love. You can’t undo His sacrifice. If you had been the only person in the world, He still would have gone to the cross for you. But He didn’t stay on the cross. He rose again. He beat death.
          But the only way for you to forgive yourself is to believe and accept His sacrifice as a substitute for your punishment. Then repent (tell God you’re sorry for your sins and ask Him to help you change the direction of your life) and ask God to forgive you and come into your heart and be your Lord and Savior.
          When you do that with a sincere heart (He knows if you are serious or not) the Bible says in Psalms 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” In other words, He drops them in the bottom of the sea and puts up a “No Fishing” sign. If you go back to Him later and say, “Lord, about that thing I did last night, or last year, or whenever it was,” God will say, “What are you talking about? I don’t remember that.” When He forgives us He deliberately forgets our sins. Now, you need to keep account of yourself, and every time you catch yourself sinning you need to ask God to forgive you and try not to repeat that behavior or attitude. It is a growth process and God is very patient with us as we study His Word and grow in our knowledge of Him and His precepts.
          So, once you have asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, when the devil comes knocking with the guilty sign, point him to Romans 8:1—“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
          You are now on your way to a richer, fuller, happier life in Christ. God bless.
         


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