That is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:11
First of all, let me make one thing crystal clear--we are all sinners. In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Paul gives a lengthy list of grievous sins, but they are no worse than my anger, pride, lust, lies and what the world calls "petty offenses" in God's eyes. While it's hard to accept, God doesn't "rank" our sins as we humans do. Sin is sin to Him. But there is hope. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and declare to follow Him, your sins are white washed away and an amazing gift of grace and justification makes you clean. Justification means there is no more guilty monkey riding on your back and undeserved favor (grace) now covers you. We all live with a past, and a lot of our pasts are filled with things we wish we could wipe away. For some of us we get stuck in our pasts and can't forgive ourselves and don't see how we could at all be worthy of such a great gift. Paul tells us that we can be free from our baggage and we can be declared holy and righteous in God's eyes as though we have never sinned. Through our conversion as a follower and believer in Christ, we have a fresh start--a Clorox cleaned and bleached new slate! For Christ's death on the cross was His gift to all of us; if we only believe. You don't have to carry around your old baggage, sin and guilt. We have a tendency to mull over past mistakes and hurts, but God says, "No more child. You are mine and you are forgiven, redeemed and clean!" We can stand before Jesus Christ knowing full well that He has forgiven us and looks no more on the past we left behind, so why should we dwell there? When we become a follower of Jesus Christ, He is the only Defender, Jury and Judge that should matter and He has found us 'not guilty' anymore. Accept His gift of grace and forgiveness and walk holy, humbly and upright in your new found freedom. ~ AMEN
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