My Sins or God’s Greatness?

What do you think about the most? The mistakes you have made and sins you have committed? About how you think you are bad and worthless and unlovable? Or do you think about God’s greatness? About His great love toward you, Jesus’ death on the cross to free you from sin and condemnation, the abundant life God has for you, and the love, peace, and joy that are prepared for you?

I spent just about all my life thinking about my sins and everything I had done wrong. It was not uncommon for me in my early forties to think about things I got in trouble for when I was four or five years old! I sat around and nursed all the memories of my mistakes and sins and continued to condemn myself for all of them. As a result, I could not let God penetrate my heart or my mind with His love. I wanted Him to and I know God wanted to but I built all these strongholds based on lies in my mind that made me believe I was not loveable. This self-created belief kept me from believing the truth that God loved me.

I praise God for delivering me from my self-hatred and self-condemnation. I no longer sit around meditating on my faults, failures, shortcomings, and sins. I actively and consciously meditate on God’s greatness. Whenever my thoughts remind me of the past, I resist them and choose to think about what God says in His Word. God reveals to me in His Word that I am a new creature in Christ. He reveals to me that He has poured His love on me. He reveals to me that I have been adopted into His family and He loves me dearly. He reveals to me there is no condemnation for me because I have been set free from sin and condemnation. He reveals to me that because I have confessed my sins He forgives me. He tells me that my forgiven sins have been dropped into the sea of forgetfulness and He does not remember them. And whenever Satan or my own old thought habits try to tell me that I am no good and unlovable and not worthy of God’s love I choose to not believe them anymore. Instead I replace those old, defeating thoughts with life-giving thoughts from the Word and believe God’s truth about me.