Truth for Thursday

I am continuing “Truth for Thursday” here at Being Refined As Silver.  We are on the last chapter of “Lies Women Believe”, chapter 11: “The Truth That Sets Us Free”.  It will take several weeks to review this chapter, so I hope you will continue to come back each week. 

Nancy Leigh DeMoss encourages her readers to take time to savor these liberating, life-changing truths.  She suggests saying each Truth aloud, again and again until your thinking becomes aligned with God’s way of thinking. 

Here is the tenth truth:

My past does not have to plague me.

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived.  Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, not homosexuals, not sodomites, not thieves, not covetous, not drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you.  But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”  1 Corinthians 6:9-11

The truth is we all have sinned.  Sin separates us from God.  But the good news is through Christ we can be made clean and new.

“Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”  Isaiah 1:18

The blood of Christ which was shed for our sin washes us clean.  Christ takes our sin and remembers it no more (Jeremiah 31:34). 

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Are you trying to pay for the sins of your past?  You can’t.  There is nothing you can do.  Christ has paid the penalty for your sin. 

“And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”         1 John 2:1-2

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

That is it.  If you have confessed your sin, you are forgiven. Walk in that forgiveness.  To hold on to that sin is to not accept Christ’s forgiveness.  One of the lies we are often tempted to believe is that our sin is worse than anyone else’s.  We can look at others and think oh they were raised in the church or they always lived on the straight and narrow.  The truth is we are all sinners and Christ’s death on the cross paid for all of our sin.  Not just the little ones, but even the most heinous of sins. 

Let us not forget that Paul was once a Jew who was persecuting the Christian Church.  He held the coats while Stephen was being stoned to death.  He called himself the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).  God changed him on the road to Damascus and he went on to preach the Gospel and serve His kingdom.  What about you?  Have you confessed your sin and asked Jesus to pay for them?  Then don’t let your past sin hold you back. Don’t let it plague you.  Walk in Christ’s forgiveness.  

“There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”  Romans 8:1

~Theresa