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“You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you.” – Psalm 69:5
In most
homes there is that room that you never go into. You know if you open the door, things are
going to fall out, or Lord knows what you would find if you actually ventured
into the abyss. We have this “storage
room” upstairs where those things we never use or for some reason want to save,
are stored. There may come a day when we
want these things again or need them for one reason or another. Example: in our storage room I have a box of
picture frames and photo mattes from when we lived in Florida (in 1994). The box may have been opened once or twice,
but it is 90% exactly the same as when it was originally packed nearly 20 years
ago. In that same time frame I have
purchased no less than 50 picture frames and mattes for different family photos
around the home. Why on earth am I
holding onto a 18 year old box I will never know?
We store things in our heart and mind the same way. Your internal store room is filled with great experiences and memories in life. The knowledge you gained doing something, or the life lesson you learned is stored away along with the memories of your life, and readily resurfaced at any time when you need them. Alongside of these things though, you are also storing those things which may not have been positive in your life and those things which may not have been righteous in your walk with God. These hidden areas of your life, the ones you want to forget and would rather no-one else ever know about; are still being held onto in your store room for one reason or another. We tuck away some of those sinful thoughts and desires, with the belief that even God can’t see them. We fool ourselves into thinking if I hide it away back in the corner of my mind somewhere, that it’s hidden from even our Creator. You and I both know that’s not the case though. God is omnipotent and all knowing. There is nothing in your heart or mind that He is not intimately aware of. We kid ourselves to think otherwise.
Often times we hold onto these things out of guilt, a reminder of who we were at one point in our life. Sometimes we hold onto them because deep down, we don’t want to give them up because of some earthly desire or temptation. Satan uses these things at the most inappropriate time in your life to paint a picture of you at your worst. He then attempts to convince you that this is who you really are, and therefore God doesn’t love you and can’t accept you. Holding onto the garbage in our life creates separation from God. Not because He can’t accept you or doesn’t love you, but because you aren’t willing to make Him Lord and King.
When Christ dies on the cross and rose again on the third day, He paid for every sin you would ever commit. God’s wrath was poured out on Him, rather than on you and I. Knowing that in our humanity we have a propensity to sin and fall down, He chose to die as a sacrifice in our place. His death was not for some of our sin, but for all of it. Every sinful thought, every unrighteous action, every derogatory word are not stored up somewhere for God to use against us on judgment day. No, they are gone, vanished and completely eliminated in His eyes because of Jesus Christ redeeming grace. We are choosing to hold onto these thoughts, emotions and desires because we aren’t convinced that His word and His forgiveness is true, or because we haven’t fully embraced God’s Holy Spirit in our lives.
Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and King, and receiving the Holy Spirit into your life means cleaning house. Let go of the past guilt and accept that God’s forgiveness is real and you are not bound by the sins of your past. Then comes the hard part, trusting in the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to overcome the sinful desires that you have stored away and repent from returning to those ways in the future. You can’t overcome these temptations and desires on your own, you are born from the seed of Adam and are prone to sinful nature. You must rely on the Holy Spirit within you for your strength and Jesus Christ for your forgiveness when you fall. In this way, you have the ability to clean out that store room once and for all, making more room for His love to fill your heart and mind. Let’s get to work, it’s up to you.
©
Sondove Enterprises, 2012We store things in our heart and mind the same way. Your internal store room is filled with great experiences and memories in life. The knowledge you gained doing something, or the life lesson you learned is stored away along with the memories of your life, and readily resurfaced at any time when you need them. Alongside of these things though, you are also storing those things which may not have been positive in your life and those things which may not have been righteous in your walk with God. These hidden areas of your life, the ones you want to forget and would rather no-one else ever know about; are still being held onto in your store room for one reason or another. We tuck away some of those sinful thoughts and desires, with the belief that even God can’t see them. We fool ourselves into thinking if I hide it away back in the corner of my mind somewhere, that it’s hidden from even our Creator. You and I both know that’s not the case though. God is omnipotent and all knowing. There is nothing in your heart or mind that He is not intimately aware of. We kid ourselves to think otherwise.
Often times we hold onto these things out of guilt, a reminder of who we were at one point in our life. Sometimes we hold onto them because deep down, we don’t want to give them up because of some earthly desire or temptation. Satan uses these things at the most inappropriate time in your life to paint a picture of you at your worst. He then attempts to convince you that this is who you really are, and therefore God doesn’t love you and can’t accept you. Holding onto the garbage in our life creates separation from God. Not because He can’t accept you or doesn’t love you, but because you aren’t willing to make Him Lord and King.
When Christ dies on the cross and rose again on the third day, He paid for every sin you would ever commit. God’s wrath was poured out on Him, rather than on you and I. Knowing that in our humanity we have a propensity to sin and fall down, He chose to die as a sacrifice in our place. His death was not for some of our sin, but for all of it. Every sinful thought, every unrighteous action, every derogatory word are not stored up somewhere for God to use against us on judgment day. No, they are gone, vanished and completely eliminated in His eyes because of Jesus Christ redeeming grace. We are choosing to hold onto these thoughts, emotions and desires because we aren’t convinced that His word and His forgiveness is true, or because we haven’t fully embraced God’s Holy Spirit in our lives.
Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and King, and receiving the Holy Spirit into your life means cleaning house. Let go of the past guilt and accept that God’s forgiveness is real and you are not bound by the sins of your past. Then comes the hard part, trusting in the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to overcome the sinful desires that you have stored away and repent from returning to those ways in the future. You can’t overcome these temptations and desires on your own, you are born from the seed of Adam and are prone to sinful nature. You must rely on the Holy Spirit within you for your strength and Jesus Christ for your forgiveness when you fall. In this way, you have the ability to clean out that store room once and for all, making more room for His love to fill your heart and mind. Let’s get to work, it’s up to you.
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