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.
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sin. Show all posts
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Prodigal Child Part II
A previous post titled The Prodigal Child describes the prodigal path as a path of selfishness that leads you away from God. The problem with the prodigal path is it ruins your relationship with God, with others, and with yourself.
The prodigal path is fun and exciting when you first start to walk on it. You embark on a journey that seems to fix any number of problems you might have in your life.
Maybe your marriage is not what you want it to be so you are drawn to someone else, regardless of whether or not they are married, too. You feel the excitement of something new and forbidden. You walk towards that other person in your mind and heart and then in word and deed. You become blinded by sin and are walking the path of adultery and divorce leaving damaged and broken lives behind you. It doesn’t matter that God tells you in the Bible that He hates divorce.
Maybe your prodigal path is one of total withdrawal. You have retreated from life and refuse to be a participant. You do not trust anyone nor do you seek to share your hurts with anyone. You hold on to bitterness and anger nursing it as a reminder of the injuries you have experienced in life. A friend's betrayal, a spouse's lies and adultery, a rape, child abuse, a medical diagnosis, a loved one's death, or your own sin has made you retreat to a life of solitude powered by hurt, loneliness, anger, bitterness, pain, or shame. It doesn’t matter that God has promised to forgive you, restore you to a relationship with Him, and be with you always and to never leave you.
Maybe you are bored or disenchanted with life and one night while surfing the internet you come across a provocative website. The excitement of pornography grabs your attention. Before you know it, you are registered on multiple websites catering to a sexual addiction that steals you of your time and money. It doesn’t matter that God tells you in the Bible that you are to be pure in our thoughts and actions.
Maybe you have pain and torment that you have no idea what to do with. God hasn't answered your prayers for deliverance and you become tired of waiting for Him to deliver you. So you seek to relieve your pain in any one of the following diversions; alcohol, drugs, fantasy, shopping, or gossiping. You find that diversions like these numb your mind or body and make you forget your pain. These things will lead you to walk down the prodigal path of addiction. It doesn’t matter that God tells you in the Bible that He will comfort you and heal you.
It does not matter what your prodigal path looks like or what activities you participate in along the way. The departure point and the destination point are all the same. The departure point is rejecting God and His plan for your life. The destination point is ruin, destruction, and death to you and those affected by your choices.
There is an alternative route to the prodigal path. It is called the path of righteousness, or right living with God. The path of righteousness is a safe path, a healthy path, a life-giving path. The traveling companions on the path of righteousness are God the Father, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit Who will be your teacher, guide and comforter. You also have angels watching over you as you travel the path of righteousness.
There is a famous poem titled The Road Not Taken (also known as The Road Less Traveled) by Robert Frost. In this poem, the traveler states:
The prodigal path is fun and exciting when you first start to walk on it. You embark on a journey that seems to fix any number of problems you might have in your life.
Maybe your marriage is not what you want it to be so you are drawn to someone else, regardless of whether or not they are married, too. You feel the excitement of something new and forbidden. You walk towards that other person in your mind and heart and then in word and deed. You become blinded by sin and are walking the path of adultery and divorce leaving damaged and broken lives behind you. It doesn’t matter that God tells you in the Bible that He hates divorce.
Maybe your prodigal path is one of total withdrawal. You have retreated from life and refuse to be a participant. You do not trust anyone nor do you seek to share your hurts with anyone. You hold on to bitterness and anger nursing it as a reminder of the injuries you have experienced in life. A friend's betrayal, a spouse's lies and adultery, a rape, child abuse, a medical diagnosis, a loved one's death, or your own sin has made you retreat to a life of solitude powered by hurt, loneliness, anger, bitterness, pain, or shame. It doesn’t matter that God has promised to forgive you, restore you to a relationship with Him, and be with you always and to never leave you.
Maybe you are bored or disenchanted with life and one night while surfing the internet you come across a provocative website. The excitement of pornography grabs your attention. Before you know it, you are registered on multiple websites catering to a sexual addiction that steals you of your time and money. It doesn’t matter that God tells you in the Bible that you are to be pure in our thoughts and actions.
Maybe you have pain and torment that you have no idea what to do with. God hasn't answered your prayers for deliverance and you become tired of waiting for Him to deliver you. So you seek to relieve your pain in any one of the following diversions; alcohol, drugs, fantasy, shopping, or gossiping. You find that diversions like these numb your mind or body and make you forget your pain. These things will lead you to walk down the prodigal path of addiction. It doesn’t matter that God tells you in the Bible that He will comfort you and heal you.
It does not matter what your prodigal path looks like or what activities you participate in along the way. The departure point and the destination point are all the same. The departure point is rejecting God and His plan for your life. The destination point is ruin, destruction, and death to you and those affected by your choices.
There is an alternative route to the prodigal path. It is called the path of righteousness, or right living with God. The path of righteousness is a safe path, a healthy path, a life-giving path. The traveling companions on the path of righteousness are God the Father, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit Who will be your teacher, guide and comforter. You also have angels watching over you as you travel the path of righteousness.
There is a famous poem titled The Road Not Taken (also known as The Road Less Traveled) by Robert Frost. In this poem, the traveler states:
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
There are two roads in life to choose from: the path of the prodigal which leads to ruin, decay, and destruction or the path of righteousness which leads to life, peace, and joy. In our American culture, it appears as if the road less traveled is the path of righteousness. I have no doubt that if you travel the path of righteousness it will make all the difference in your life. Choose God’s path of right living and as you make the journey, let God minister peace and healing to your soul and to your life.
Scripture and References
Malachi 2:14-16: “…the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. … So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. ‘I hate divorce,’ says the Lord God…”
Deuteronomy 31:6: “…the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
James 5:16: “Confess your sins [faults] to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
Psalm 101:2-3: “I will be careful to lead a blameless life…I will walk in my house with a blameless heart. I will set before my eyes no vile thing.”
I Timothy 5:22: “…do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.”
Psalm 34:18: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Matthew 5:4: “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.”
Galatians 6:8-9: “Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at…[He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.” (Amplified Version)
The Road Not Taken can be found at http://quotations.about.com/cs/poemlyrics/a/Road_Not_Taken.htm
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
There are two roads in life to choose from: the path of the prodigal which leads to ruin, decay, and destruction or the path of righteousness which leads to life, peace, and joy. In our American culture, it appears as if the road less traveled is the path of righteousness. I have no doubt that if you travel the path of righteousness it will make all the difference in your life. Choose God’s path of right living and as you make the journey, let God minister peace and healing to your soul and to your life.
Scripture and References
Malachi 2:14-16: “…the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. … So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. ‘I hate divorce,’ says the Lord God…”
Deuteronomy 31:6: “…the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
James 5:16: “Confess your sins [faults] to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
Psalm 101:2-3: “I will be careful to lead a blameless life…I will walk in my house with a blameless heart. I will set before my eyes no vile thing.”
I Timothy 5:22: “…do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.”
Psalm 34:18: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Matthew 5:4: “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.”
Galatians 6:8-9: “Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at…[He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.” (Amplified Version)
The Road Not Taken can be found at http://quotations.about.com/cs/poemlyrics/a/Road_Not_Taken.htm
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