Hello all,
i was hoping to get some opinions from more experienced Christians on something that i have been thinking a lot about recently: that being, the depth of our sins.
Every moment we could be doing more; we could always love a neighbor more than we do; we're never going to be as good as we ought to be.etc. etc.
So if that is true, then we are always falling short of Jesus's teachings and therefore we are always sinning.
If that's the case, then how do we not feel guilty all the time?
I know that Jesus died for our sins and paid the punishment for them, but to continue (unavoidably) sinning makes me feel shame and guilt anyways.
Is it possible to get to a stage where we accept that we are always sinning and be 'comfortable' with it, as Jesus died for us because we are sinners; and that all we can do is repent continually and thank God for the salvation He has given to continual sinners?
I guess i was hoping to be corrected, where i am wrong; or to have people whom have been caught on this and gotten past it.
thanks all.
Dear one,
Are you concerned the depth of your sins ? our sins ? This is what we have heard:
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? -Romans 7:24
Didn’t apostle Paul cry out in like manner like us ?
So what did he say then?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself
serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. -Romans 7:25
Did apostle Paul serve with his flesh the law of sin ? No.
How can I know for sure? If he did serve the law of sin with his flesh. Why then, apostle Paul have to thank God through Christ ? And then he said
that he himself serve the law of God with his mind.
So the question is : have you serve the law of God with your mind ?
This is also what we have heard apostle Paul have said :
For those who live according to the flesh set their MINDS on the things of the flesh,
but those who live according to the Spirit set their MINDS on the things of the Spirit. -Romans 8:5
So dear one, just set your mind on the things of the Spirit.
What are the things of the Spirit? This is what we have heard our Lord Jesus have said:
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. -John 6:63
Dear one, you raise a concern: “we're never going to be as good as we ought to be.etc. etc.”
This is what we have heard:
Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but
present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. -Romans 6:13
Just present yourself to God or in other words, offer yourself to God or submit yourself to God. How ? This is what we have heard our Lord have said to us:
So Jesus said to the Jews
who had believed Him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, -John 8:31
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." -John 8:32
So have you believed in Christ? If you say that you have ! Have you abide in His words? When you have ! Then, truly you are the Lord’s disciple.
So to submit yourself to God, we are called to abide in His words. In other words, we are to remember what the Lord has said and done. That we remember His words with our mind. And treasure His words in our hearts so that we don’t sin against Him.
What does that mean? When we present ourselves to God ! We don’t trust in our flesh or our abilities or resources or strength but we trust in the strength of the Lord.
That is why we have heard:
Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. -Jeremiah 17:5
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. -Jeremiah 17:7
He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." -Jeremiah 17:8
So we who trust in the Lord like trees planted by the water. How do we know that we are the trees planted by the water ? This is what we have heard:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. -Isaiah 55:8
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. -Isaiah 55:9
"
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, -Isaiah 55:10
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. -Isaiah 55:11
Are our ways the Lord’s ways? No. Therefore, the Lord teaches us the humble to live in His ways.
Are our thoughts His thoughts? No. Therefore, the Lord teaches us to set our minds on His thoughts.
Aren’t rain considered as water ? Aren’t snows considered as water?
Aren’t the words that goes out from the Lord, that the Lord have said are Spirit and life ? So the Spirit of His word is the living water that water the trees planted by God the Father.
So those who set their minds on the things of the Spirit — live according to the Spirit— for they live according to the Spirit of His words.
Aren’t the guilty ones consider themselves condemned ?
But this is what we have heard:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus. -Romans 8:1
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. -Romans 8:2
So we set our minds on the things of the Spirit, we are brought in union with Christ.
Are we wrong to remember the grace of repentance that our Lord gave us ?
Dear one, let us consider that the Lord come to your house like the story that we heard in Luke 7:36-50.
Then, this is what we have heard:
Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "
Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet,
but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. -Luke 7:44
You did not anoint my head with oil, but
she has anointed my feet with ointment. -Luke 7:46
Didn’t we see that this woman present herself to the Son of God ?
What testimony that this woman received from the Lord ?
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven'
for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." -Luke 7:47
Do the Lord treasure what she did ? Why? She presented herself to God with love.
So dear one, when you pray ! Don’t you want to seek and find Him ? Don’t you want God near you ? This is what we have heard:
"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; -Isaiah 55:6
let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. -Isaiah 55:7
See the parentheses in Isaiah 55:6 and continue to Isaiah 55:7 and consider.
So when we seek God ! Don’t we trust Him ? Yes, we do. So we seek to be found in His strength to forsake our wicked ways. We pray or call Him in truth and contrition that the Lord gave us strength to abandon our unrighteous thoughts. When we have done that! Aren’t we in His mercy ? Doesn’t He abundantly pardon us ? Yes, He does !
As we also have heard:
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and
take every thought captive to obey Christ, -2 Corinthians 10:5
So when we have arguments and lofty opinions in our heads ! Do you consider that thoughts from God or the enemy? Yes, arguments and lofty opinions that are against the knowledge of God doesn’t come from us but from the enemy !!!
That is why it is of importance that we set our minds on the things of the Spirit, that is the Lord’s words. Then, our thoughts aren’t darkened in understanding and we don’t alienate ourselves from the life of God. we don’t become insensitive to the sufferings of others. We don’t give ourselves to sensuality. We don’t become greedy to practice every kind of impurities.
For we learned the way of Christ.
This is the grace we heard:
And I will put my
Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. -Ezekiel 36:27
So the Holy Spirit will help us ! But we need to offer ourselves to God.
When our MINDS have been ruled by the Spirit of God ! Then we have the peace and life that our Lord Jesus Christ have spoken of.