"THE TRUTH IS..." ...Until They Are Dead
It is a hard thing to do to let go of the past and not look back. Being flesh and blood we will always be vulnerable to criticism, hasty judgments and slanders, but as Christians of compassion and understanding, we handle these offenses without any problems. It is when we are reminded of our past that we tend to linger all too long in the remembrance, as if the sins of yesterday were towering giants or fire-breathing dragons that follow after us, seeking to overtake us... It is in these dark and gloomy revisitations of our past that we find a very personal and destructive self-guilt, applied without self-mercy or self-forgiveness. With the love and tenderness of the Holy Spirit working within us we forgive others without batting an eye. Why is it then that we have so much taffy-pulling resistance when it comes to forgiving ourselves? Why can't we lay it down as easily as we pick it up? Why can't we blot out the memory as easily as the sin itself was erased? We can! First we have to believe God - and I am not playing on words here - I am seriously pointing to the first cardinal rule of spiritual freedom - the rule of total trust in the One who called us forth, cleansed us, saved us and filled us with Himself, the One who forgave us all of our sins and accepted us in the Beloved. When we came to Him in tears and repentance, He wiped away our past - all of it - and buried it in the depths of the Sea. And God says it is gone forever, He will remember it no more... We cannot truly love others with the immeasureable love of God until we understand the power of His forgiveness that enables us to forgive ourselves. It is first applied because it is a commandment, but when it has been understood in all its power, it is applied because it releases a much-needed spiritual freedom in the life of the one who forgives, and an opened door for the one forgiven. Then and only then will we be ready to agree with God that our sins are forgiven and forgotten. Sometimes we remember when a word or picture triggers the door of our memory bank. Sometimes a long-lost acquaintance from the past shows up unexpectedly and talks about the person we used to be - and the things we did - in the days when a different person lived in our body. We want to tell that long-lost acquaintance: "That person you used to know doesn't exist anymore. He died, and was born again in Christ Jesus. Today he is a new creature, old things are passed away and behold, all things are become new." Sometimes our memories are stirred by the dragon - that old serpent we know as Satan, Beelzebub, Prince of Darkness, the Destroyer and the Father of lies. He comes to us in the middle of the night with accusations, bringing a truckload of guilt to pour into us. And we, being flesh and blood, cringe under the weight of it and confess and repent again and again as if it didn't take hold the first time we prayed. This is called unbelief... What we need to do when the buzzard of hell drops in with a few stirrings of the past, is to rebuke him, remind him of the Word of God, "It is written, 'In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His Grace (Ephesians 1:7).' " And we need to remember Matthew 6:14-15: "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (And that includes forgiveness of self)... It is the pride of life that deprives us the forgiveness of self. Self pity is often stronger than reason and so it is that pride and self-pity must be crushed. They must be put under our feet and tread upon and stomped until they are dead. Romans 6:5-11: "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead (with Christ), is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death has no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he lives, he lives unto God. Likewise, consider ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Joan Krempel
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