Knowing God - He Forgives ALL

Ps 103:3

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;…

The Lord forgives ALL our sins.  What a glorious truth.  He made sure that He would retain the integrity of His character by demanding just payment for every offense in His Son Jesus Christ’s death.  This opened the way for Him to forgive us or let go of the debt that we justly deserve to pay for our failures.  We don’t have to be intimidated by any sort of memory from the past when we understand He forgives ALL our sins.  We don’t have to be tormented with a recent sin knowing He forgives ALL our sins.  We don’t have to fall under the condemnation so often looming over our lives when we have the truth of this scripture to uphold us in the face of accusation and ridicule.  The Lord is rich in mercy and plenteous in mercy.  Let us enjoy this forgiveness and honor Him by walking as cleansed, forgiven people.

Proverbs - Pure in Your Own Eyes

Proverbs 30:12

There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.

Our heart is deceitfully wicked and we must understand our assessment of ourselves is not to be trusted.  We live in a society that decides what is right by their own understanding and desires.  People think they are clean but in fact are quite dirty.  When we talk to such people we must realize that they are carrying around the stench of their sin and we know that it is the blood of Jesus that can wash them white as snow.  The blessing of a clean conscience is something those who are yet dead in their sins do not know.  The weight of guilt is something they have never been relieved of.  We can tell them what Christ has done on their behalf.  They can enjoy the cleansing and forgiving.  When we see others we should know that regardless of whether they think they are clean, they are not.  We can pray for that Hollywood star.  We can write a letter to that politician or to that professor letting them know what their Maker has done for them.  Don’t be surprised at how people will say that they are clean when the truth is they are in the miry clay of human sin and consequences.

Proverbs - Anger and Sin

Proverbs 29:22

An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.

If you find yourself struggling with anger you probably have some relationship problems and find yourself crossing the line on more than one occasion.  Anger is very powerful and it often gets the best of us.  Sometimes anger comes from guilt.  We are resisting cooperating with the Lord’s prodding and we find ourselves agitated and unsettled.  Sometimes anger comes from a lack of sleep and filling our minds with worthless input.  Sometimes anger comes from pride thinking we deserve more or better than we have.  Anger is the spider of the cobwebs of strife.  Let us cease from wrath.  Let us consider mercy and humble ourselves in a place of consistent gratitude and patience towards others.

Knowing God - God Takes Inventory

Rom 4:8

 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

The word ‘impute’ means ‘to take inventory’.  The Lord is the One who searches our lives and hearts and weighs us.  He is the One who decides what is sin and what is not sin.  The Lord is able to look into lives and when He sees sin, He decides if that sin is on the books.  When we place our faith in Christ and what He did on that cross, we draw upon His resources to cover the debt we have incurred before the Lord.  When the Lord sees our sin, He can also see the other ‘column’.  The column that declares that debt ‘paid in full’.  Our sin is still just as ugly and just as deserving of judgment as any person’s sin, but in Christ, judgment and payment was given and made available to all who would believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved.  When dealing with our God, it would be wise for us, who are covered by Jesus’ obedience, to consider what a blessing it is to not have our sins imputed to us.  It would be great also to consider others who have not had this experience yet.  Lord, thank You that we are blessed indeed to be considered cleansed and forgiven!