JoyRainbow said:
Yes, I do know all of this, I just never expected to feel like this. I wonder sometimes where it comes from. I feel fine after I confess. The sense of feeling bad when I do something wrong is enough to stop me from doing it even though I am tempted to.
Kind of like, if I do something wrong, not only do I feel guilty and wrong and ashamed, but I also have to confess it , try to fix the problem and not do it again. Not much fun, KWIM.
I however, would never go back to where I was before, would rather move forward with God.
I have been thinking about what you have said and I think the reason is because we fail to truly comprehend how God sees the situation. The reason we come to Jesus in the first place is because we recognise we are sinners. But once we believe on Him then:
Rom.8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
We need to change the way we think about who and what we are. This doesn't come "naturally" because the sin nature still lives within us and the sin nature follows after the thinking style of Satan who is the "accuser of the brethren".
Rom.12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, (
Satan's/sin nature mindset) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, (
change the way you think) that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
Now this can only come about as we study the scriptures for it is in here that "the will of God" is made known to us.
John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
We might say that Jesus is the mindset of God. Jesus is the way God thinks and acts in a world that has rebelled against Him. It is to this way of thinking that we are called and if we are walking by faith and allowing the Holy Spirit to rule our lives then:
2Cor.3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."
At first it is confusing because we are just not accustomed to this sort of life. The life of Christ is very different to the life that each of us has lived "in the flesh". And as a believer we have two opposing "lives" at work within us. But we have no need to be confounded by this because:
1John 2:2 "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."
So we live (by faith) as people who are dead to sin, that is, as
if there is no sin in our lives and that we are indeed holy and blameless.
Rom.6:11 "Likewise you also,
reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Because now we are new creatures.
2Cor.5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
This is a newness that is completely different from what you were before not just an "improvement" on what you were. We are not "later models" of humanity we are a brand new species. This is how God sees the picture and we should too. Now, what we are, will not be revealed completely until Christ returns for us and we have recieved our resurrection bodies. But until that day comes we should be learning to live as God has made us to be and not as the sin nature within tries to tell us.
Kind of like, if I do something wrong, not only do I feel guilty and wrong and ashamed, but I also have to confess it , try to fix the problem and not do it again. Not much fun, KWIM.
If you are feeling guilty and ashamed then you are living by your "flesh" and not by the Spirit. Most of us think we have cause for guilt and shame
after we have done something wrong but this is the cart before the horse. We begin life in guilt and shame and it is the coming of the Light of Christ that reveals it to us. So it is your shame and guilt you need to confess, then the wrongdoing that you do will begin to lessen.
Remember it is written, there is
no condemnation anymore if you believe in Christ, so if feelings of guilt and shame come to you then they come from your flesh and not from the Holy Spirit. God does not condemn you, you should not condemn yourself. You are not greater than God.
Do you know there are over 7,000 promises in the scriptures? That gives you about 20 promises for each day of the year to thank God for. You won't have time to think about sinning.
Be at peace sweetie, The Lord is able to do far more than you and I can even imagine. You learnt the "three R's" as a kid, now learn the "three L's" as a believer... "Look, Listen and Lean" on Jesus. Look to Him, listen to His Word and depend upon the Life He lives in you. It gets easier and
way more fun than any other path you could follow.
