Sin, Guilt, Fear

It is typical for the enemy to try to demoralize the saints with remembrance of our sin, guilt and fear.  But what does our Lord say?

Romans 8:1

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Our God is not sitting in heaven with a clipboard and pen saying "oh, there she goes again!  One sin there, and a failure here, and an omission again there."  If we are "in Christ" it is all forgiven.  When we fall (all of us do) and when we fail (all of us do) He expects us to get over it, get up, and press on.  If we sin, we immediately repent and move on.

We are not to live in the past. 

Isaiah 43:18“Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

19See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

and streams in the wasteland.

The only thing we are to constantly pull forward out of the past is remembrance of the many miracles and answered prayers our Lord has delivered to us.

Psalm 77:10Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.  11I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 12I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” 13Your ways, God, are holy.
What god is as great as our God? 14You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.

Once we pick ourselves up off the ground, then we are to press on.  Press on doing what?  Walking with our God.  Getting to know Him, love Him, serve Him.  Listening to His voice, when He tells us to act we do so immediately.  We are to be kings and priests.  The priest serves who primarily?  The Lord.  Service to man comes second.  Our God is always first, in all things at all times.  If we put Him in His proper place in our lives (at the center) then everything else will take care of itself.  Put first things first.

John 10:14"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- .

2 Thessalonians 1:8He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

We must know our God, that is primary.  We know Him by remaining in Him, by staying in His Word, by walking and talking with Him throughout our day, by praying to Him continually, by praising Him continually, and through giving thanks and rejoicing in Him.

Yes, we all stumble:

James 3:2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.


But then we recover and press on.

Forget your mistakes, your sin, your stumbling, your failures.  Why?  In Christ there is no condemnation, you are forgiven.  We know without a doubt that we are in right standing (thats what righteousness is: right standing with our God), and because we are right standing with our God we can walk and talk with Him, get to know Him.  That is our primary duty: to love and serve our God.  You do not have to be a missionary to far flung parts of the earth, you do not have to stand in front of crowds of people and preach, you do not have to do any of the many things this world tells us we have to do.  We can do what we need to do, every moment of every day right where we are:  know our God.

We are loved, and we are forgiven.  Proceed in your walk with our God knowing these things.  His eyes are on His church and His church is not some building somewhere owned by some self styled religious CEO.  His church is the living, breathing body of Christ Jesus, that is me and you...

Forget the past.  Strain toward what is ahead:

Philippians 3:1Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But
one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, .

grace and peace