Grace For The Journey

  Many Christians who come to me for pastoral counseling are locked solidly in the grip of guilt.  They simply cannot get past a past littered with sin . . .

• The sin of self-rule
• The sin of self-focus
• The sin of self-righteousness
• The sin of self-centeredness
• The sin of self-love

And the list goes on and on and on.

This is the place

The devil wants us to live.

He wants us to wallow in the past,

Which keeps us from living in the present.

To be sure, the devil cannot take you out of the nail-scarred hands of your Savior (John10:28), but . . .

He can get you to focus

So tightly on your sinful past

That you never live

In the forgiven present

Of your God-given potential.

Living in the grip of guilt . . .

Stunts our growth,

Slows our progress,

And

Shuts off the flow

Of God’s blessings

To our lives.

In other words, we take a truncated view of the glorious Gospel . . .

We view the work of Christ

On our behalf as

Incomplete in its ability

To save us

“to the uttermost”

(Hebrews 7:25)

And

Remove all of our guilt.

But this is not what God wants for you!

The Bible declares in Romans 8:1-4, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

If Paul did not believe what he wrote, he never would have been able to rise above a past littered with sin – and not just your common, garden-variety sin – but his approving role in the execution of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.  Read Paul’s inspired words in 1 Timothy 1:13-15 carefully, remembering he was the one who held the coats of those who stoned Stephen to death, “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.”

How could Paul see himself as the “chief sinner” and still do the work God called him to do?

The answer is that Paul had

A clear view of the Gospel

And refused to be held

In the devil’s grip of guilt.

John Newton wrote one of the most beloved Christian hymns, Amazing Grace.  Newton wrote those wonderful lyrics with the full knowledge and remembrance of his past life as a notorious slave trader.  So how could he rise above this horrible history and faithfully serve his Savior until he passed into glory?  Like Paul, Newton had a clear view of the Gospel and refused to be held in the devil’s grip of guilt.

So . . . what about you?  How clear is your view of the Gospel?  Check your guilt and remember these words John Newton uttered shortly before his death at the age of 82:

“My memory is nearly gone,

But I remember two things:

That I am a great sinner

And

That Christ is a great Savior.”

Now that is what we should remember as we respond to God’s call in our lives;

God’s grace

Is greater

Than all our sins!

And so, we are to shake free from the grip of guilt and stand fully in God’s grace, no matter what our past was like.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”