No Place for Review

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32:1 (New King James Version)

Have you ever experienced it? That sense of forgiveness and that all is well between yourself and God or yourself and another individual? No more strained relationship. No more uneasiness or inability to look another person in the eye. No more knot in the pit of your stomach. That is exactly what transpires when I have genuinely sought forgiveness and graciously received it. It is what happened last night when I sat down with two people who mean a lot to me, who I had disappointed and hurt, who I asked forgiveness of, and who readily extended it. I left their home with no more weight on my shoulders or heart.

Yet amazingly enough, when I turned in for the evening the scenario of my wrong actions came flooding back to my mind and regret began to pound in my heart once again. Just as amazingly though the Lord began to speak to me in the privacy of my thoughts. He reminded me of the forgiveness I had been given and He urged me to live in the joy of that forgiveness rather than in the regret of wrong choices. He reminded me of Paul’s words in Philippians 3:13 that says to forget those things which are behind. He let me know that the quickest way to be robbed of joy and peace is to continue to replay what has been forgiven. He said in essence, “Your mind does not belong there anymore. Revel in the forgiveness. You don’t have to review the past any longer. I am not. They are not. You cannot!”

Reviewing past mistakes, sins, and failures has been a pattern for me throughout my life. A pattern that God wants broken. A pattern I too want broken. The breaking of it is starting with a simple of exercise. When the thoughts come back (which they have on countless times this morning) I simply remind myself I have been forgiven. With that reminder the scene that is playing across the walls of my mind vanishes. What comes in its place? The living room scene where two people extended the forgiveness I sought and the scene at Calvary where the price of sin was paid in full. When my mind reviews those scenes, the joy returns and with it, the ability to move forward.

Father, when I hesitate to embrace forgiveness I weaken my own ability to extend it to others. I want the joy and freedom that comes from receiving with abandon such a gracious gift. Amen.

What Sin? - Morgan Cryar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Wdzzx6-f4

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.