For the next few posts, I want to look at the obstacles the people have to faith in God. With the threat of AI looming over all of us, now more than ever we need a safe place to land. I believe that place is with a loving Lord, the One I have come to know, and I want everyone else to now as well.
But often I see people distance from God because they don’t feel forgiven for their sins. Let’s get down and dirty, or rather I should say “clean” about confessed sins. 1 John 1:9 reads, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It doesn’t say some unrighteousness; it says all unrighteousness. Psalm 103:12 explains, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” God informs us in Hebrews 8:12, “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”
After we confess our sins to the Lord, He is done with them,” We don’t have to live with guilt or spend our lives running from God for fear that He will find out who we are and press His divine smite button to wreck us for all eternity. The Bible tells us in Psalm 103:8-10, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us; Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” The Lord forgives us for our sins, so we owe it to ourselves to do the same.
The word for sin in the New Testament is the word hamartano. It means “to miss the mark.” In John 8 when the high-and-mighty brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus, they wanted to trick Jesus with just what you are struggling with. Jesus preached love and grace, and here was a woman clearly messing up, caught in the midst of sin. They really thought they had him. I love Christ’s response to this struggling sinner. After he put her accusers in their place, he didn’t unleash his wrath on her. He didn’t condemn her, but He knew she was missing the mark and missing God’s best for her life. So, he told her to go and “sin no more.”
Please indulge my paraphrase. “You’re better than this, Darlin’. So go and aim higher.” Perhaps, all this troubled lady needed was for someone to believe that about her.
Still, it’s a tall order to aim higher, but we don’t have to do that on our own power. We can ask the Holy Spirit to do it in us. Remember what Paul tells us in Philippians 2:13, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.” (NLT). Not only will God give us the power to make good choices, He will even help us with the “want-to.” It doesn’t get any better than this.
God’s Word is true, but we let past guilt or deep feelings of unworthiness rob us of the strength and confidence that connecting with a Living God could provide. However, there is hope for our stinkin’ thinkin.’ 1 John 3:20 informs us that even when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts. We can be our own worst enemies. Instead of listening to our own negative self-talk, we can claim the truth of God’s Word and recite it until it becomes our new self-talk. It will change the way we live.
(From Tech-Pecked or Tuned In: Finding God in an Anxious World)