Sins of the Past. The “S” Word: Part Two

By Lori Freeland –

Sin.

A past.

Everyone owns both. Combined, they can be quite unattractive. My sins plus my past? Definitely ugly. Certain periods of my life intertwine with blemishes I can’t scrub off. They feel dirty. Repulsive. Shameful.

Can you relate?

Whether I color my past transgressions white, gray, black or some palette of all three, a sin is a sin is a sin. God doesn’t differentiate between my white and my black. He doesn’t measure the gray and deem me good or bad. Acceptable or unacceptable. Fit or unfit.

“We have all fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NIV).

Some of my bad choices I’d rather not relive. Rather not reflect upon. Rather not revisit. I’d rather bury them in a hole under twelve feet of dirt, six feet of cement, and a semi.

But that’s not always my choice.

What if one day, tomorrow or many tomorrows down the road, a few of those mistakes come rapping on my door and no longer afford me the choice to stuff them down in denial? Do I pay for them over and over? Do I live in bondage to my past? Should I punish myself forever? Forever can be a really long time.

Sins burden. They’re heavy. They’re draining. They pilfer joy and generate fear.

Maybe we all have at least one or two skeletons we’d like to keep locked in the cellar. Things that bring us shame, humiliation, or terror if another person were to discover just what kind of life we’ve led. Maybe we’ve worked hard to keep them buried under that dirt and cement.

Fear and oppression are harsh places to live. They color your heart, your world, your perspective.

Is there alternative to the shame sin drops at our doorstep?

Absolutely.

I don’t have to live in slavery to my former choices. To my past. No matter what I’ve done. Are there consequences for my actions? Yes. Will I have to live with those? Maybe. But not in fear and not in bondage. What is brought into the light can no longer hold darkness.

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

Yes. God offers me freedom. Like an over exuberant charge card rampage, when the debt comes due, He writes the check. He even covers the interest. His blood covers everything.

Everything.

The white lies. The muddy fabrications. The unpure choices. The murderous thoughts. The cruel words. All of it. Gone. And I’m left with a choice to seek forgiveness complete with a clean, white slate.

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25).

And if God doesn’t remember my sins, why should I? What an amazing gift. One I don’t want to blow.

What this gift offers me isn’t free reign to sin some more and come back begging an apology each time. What have I learned then? Nothing of value. What this gift does offer is a way to be different. To move into God’s light and make better choices so I can leave my past in the past, where it belongs.

Will I still continue to make mistakes? Of course. But I won’t live in bondage to those mistakes. I will do my best to forge ahead and, “…sin no more…” (John 8:11 KJV) knowing He will help me walk the path He’s designed. Resting in the knowledge that when I veer, His arms are always open.

When You Can’t See the Road Ahead

By Jennifer Slattery –

One day, while driving, I passed a blind woman led by a Seeing Eye Dog. Cars zoomed by and horns honked, but the dog remained focused. His task? To bring the woman to her destination safely. The woman’s task? To follow, not veering to the left or right.

As I watched her, I couldn’t help but think how incredibly frightening that must have been. She couldn’t see the path ahead, or what lay between her and her destination. All she could do was focus on her next step, then the next, and the next. Through practiced obedience, she’d become accustomed to her guides every move, and she responded accordingly. When the dog stopped, she stopped. When he veered, she veered. Her sensitivity to his movements, at times, may have meant the difference between life and death.

Our faith walk is a lot like that, isn’t it? In many ways, it’s like walking in the dark, not knowing what obstacles, hurdles, or detours lie ahead. It’s easy to be so caught in the “what-ifs” that we loose our focus on the here and now—that next step. But like a Seeing Eye Dog who guides his companion with unwavering focus, God has promised to lead us to our final destination.

All we need to do is focus on our guide and take that next step.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:1-6 NLT).

God leads us, not always along the path of least resistance, but the path of inner peace. When we surrender everything to God, trusting Him to be who He says He is and do what He promises to do, we’ll find rest even amidst the greatest struggles because we’ll realize it’s not about us. It’s not about how great we are, how gifted, talented, strong, insightful. It’s about how obedient and pliable we are.

Our trust is not based on our present circumstances, but instead, in the unfailing goodness of God. I love how verse six puts it–God’s goodness and love will pursue me, all the days of my life.

So keep walking, friend, but release your death grip and enjoy the journey, because God’s got it all mapped out, and it’s more glorious and beautiful than anything you could plan or imagine.

Blurring the Ancient Boundaries

By DiAne Gates –

Mother often recited, “I don’t build fences to keep you in. I build fences to keep bad stuff out.” But it sure felt like I was being detained.

Until I grew up and had my own children.

God sets boundaries for His kids too. Not to hold us captive, but to keep us safe. He’s the great protector, not the cosmic killjoy.

In the late ‘70’s, my kids were third and sixth graders in a public school that became the battleground to guerrilla warfare waged against children in the classroom.

Comments slipped from their mouths, and at first we responded, “They’re just kids.”

One afternoon our third grader retorted, “My teacher says I don’t have to mind you. You’re old. I can do what I feel like doing.”

What teacher in their right mind would tell that to a child? We instructed our daughter, “Your teacher wouldn’t say that. You need to be quiet and listen.”

But other parents voiced the same concerns when their kiddos came home with the same rhetoric. The teacher really taught these lies and the kids acted on her instruction.

We discovered the guidance counselor held classes with every kid, in all grades, each week. The School Board and school allowed this counselor to use a book not approved by the State Text Book Committee. A book not even on the list of books from which they could choose.

We tracked the publication to another school, borrowed it, and called a meeting for the parents of our elementary school. A reporter from a local newspaper, met with us and we previewed the book, DoSo The Dolphin, taught at the elementary school. The middle school taught Total Affective Behavior.

DoSo the Dolphin taught you could do anything you wanted if you had a good reason for doing it. One example in the book was this. “Little Johnny told a lie. But Little Johnny had a very good reason for telling this lie. What would you do if you were Little Johnny?” This lesson encouraged children not to go to their parents for answers, but to come to their “Magic Circle,” group, where they would find understanding. This book was used in grades 1 through 5.

Middle school kids were exposed to survival games—taught to make life and death decisions based on a person’s worth to society. This teaching became known as Situation Ethics. The situation you’re in determines the ethics you use.

The question remains: Is God’s Word truth? Is there absolute truth? Satan asked Eve in the garden, “Did God really say that?” And the blurring continues since that day in the garden.

Fast forward to 2012. We are dealing with high school shootings, drugs, gangs in schools, teen pregnancies, abortions, alarming STD rates, and an overcrowded prison system. We have raised a generation of adults who were taught in schools, “If it feels good, do it.” How can we expect them to have a moral or spiritual compass?

This brainwashed generation is raising children of their own with few, if any, boundaries. Where do we go from here? Are parents and grandparents failing our children and grandchildren in this society? Are we teaching them the Word of God?

God constructed the fence of His Statutes and Ordinances for His children, but His rebellious kids catapult over those walls of protection and find themselves in places they thought would bring freedom and joy, but instead bring destruction.

Were you a student in the classroom during this deceptive teaching or do you know people who were? How did it affect you? Please join the conversation.

“Arise, cry aloud in the night at the beginning of the night watches; Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to Him for the life of your little ones. . .” (Lamentations 2:19 NAS).

Stuck in the Interim

By Jennifer Slattery –

The Bible tells us life, our time on earth, is short and this world is not our home, and yet, we rarely speak of heaven. Perhaps our biggest deception, our biggest distraction, is the here and now. It’s like we’re all stuck in an airport terminal dining on stale ham and cheese sandwiches, fighting for access to the vending machine and the seat closest to the window, not realizing the Bahamas are only a short flight away. Yet Jesus endured the cross, “for the joy that was set before Him.” And He told us to do the same.

According to John C. Hutchison, part of our inability to grasp eternity is due to our need for instant gratification. With instant messaging, texting, and high-speed internet, we’re trained to think of the here and now. Tomorrow is a long way away. Eternity, even longer…so long we consider it almost insignificant. Yet, the Bible tells us this world stinks. It’s plagued by sin, disease and death (Genesis 3, Romans 8:22-28). One of the most oft quoted Scripture passages is Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

We use this verse to comfort ourselves when we lose a job, fight illness, and face tragedy. We use it in the context of today–the here and now–but when we read the entire passage, we realize our world, “groans, like a woman in childbirth.” The hope is not in this life, but in the life to come.

“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:20-25, 28 NIV).

Here’s the potential problem with misquoting the Romans 8:28 verse. If we’re looking for our rewards in the here and now, we won’t know how to handle it when difficulties come. We’ll be blind sighted. And even worse, we’ll lose hope, because what we hoped for may not come to pass. But our hope is not in this sin-plagued world. Our hope lies in eternity where God will wipe away ever tear from our eyes, where disease will be non-existent, and our joy will be inexpressible. And God will reward His children for every trial endured here on earth.

Matthew 5:11-12 says, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven.”

Speaking of earthly trials, John C. Hutchinson says, “These dark moments actually have eternal significance!…Our lives are part of a bigger story, a drama that is unfolding in the heavenlies. When we understand this, it allows us to see every situation in life, especially the difficult ones, as faith opportunities that carry eternal significance.”

Mystery—Unexplained—Awesome

By DiAne Gates –

“As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking” (NAS Ezekiel 1:28).

Our Precept Bible group began our Fall Bible study in the Book of Ezekiel. I knew the book was about visions, but had never studied it. The first day’s homework directed us to read Chapter One. That last verse stopped me cold and sent my mind ripping back through the years—

—to a rainy Sunday afternoon, eight years ago when my husband and I were returning from Kansas City with our four-year-old grandson, Noah. Papa drove the car, while Noah and I rode in the backseat and played games and watched the rain splatter on the windshield.

Late in the afternoon, we came into Denton, Texas, on I35 South. It had not rained in weeks. The roads were slick, traffic heavy, and driving difficult.

The sky had cleared in the east and God had painted a spectacular rainbow against the darkness of the passing storm. Noah saw it and squealed in delight. I told him about his biblical namesake.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the flashing red taillights of the cars just ahead. Papa barked, “Sit back. Brace Noah. Relax.”

“What?”

I jerked my neck to glance out the back window. An eighteen-wheeler barreled toward us. Another peek forward and I saw the cars in front of us. Stopped. The truck would never be able to stop in that short distance. Not on these roads.

“Oh, Lord, please.” I gasped and smashed my body against the back of the seat and threw my left arm over Noah.

An arc of brilliant color appeared overhead and a luminous golden light shimmered all around us and reflected like a thousand tiny stars over the hood of our car. The power of stillness surrounded us within and without. Utter silence. Peaceful silence. Entrancing silence.

Then it was gone.

How long had it lasted? Minutes? Seconds? I don’t know.

Cars in front of us had stopped. The truck in back of us stopped a few feet from our back bumper. And we stopped. No squealing brakes, no sliding tires, no honking horns. Not a sound.

I sat, unable to speak. Papa let out a sigh and put the car in motion as the cars in front of us moved too. Neither Noah, Papa, nor I said a word for a few minutes. Then I leaned forward and whispered, “Honey, what did you see back there? What happened?”
Papa wiped his forehead and ran his hand down the back of his neck. He turned and “No. Please. Tell me.”

He stammered, “I…it looked like…we were in the middle of a rainbow and the light…was unreal. Golden. Sparkling. So quiet and peaceful.”

Our eyes locked in the rear-view mirror and I whispered, “Me too.”

Papa shrugged his shoulders. “Honey, that back there…,” his head tilted backward, “…was a God thing.”

I turned to Noah. His precious head slumped against the shoulder of his car seat. Sound asleep.

We rode another few miles pondering all that had transpired. Each of us knew a power greater than anything we had ever experienced or known had intervened in our lives. I Eight years later there is still a catch in my throat, and tears in my eyes when my mind plays that scene over again.

And that light—I’m at a loss to describe, paint or interpret it in any way except glorious.

Someway, somehow, the hand of God miraculously spared us that stormy afternoon outside of Denton, Texas. And He allowed us a glimpse into the world around us that we can’t see. Yet.

And wherever you are today, dear reader, God loves you too. And He has a plan for your life. Believe Him. Love Him. Because He alone is faithful.

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