Hello Guys and Gals!
I did something that I am profoundly against in my life. I lied!
Let me clarify. I was in a really good mood one night and someone asked me if I was irritated with him. I told him no. This was a lie. But I didn't mean to lie. I really was in a good mood and, at that time, I wasn't irritated with him. I was irritated with some things about him but I didn't really think when I simply responded that I wasn't. But I still lied!
Well, I didn't see him for a few days and the Lord and my conscience nagged at me again and again until I saw him again. So when I saw him again, I waited until we could talk privately and then I told him that I lied to him and also that it wasn't intentionally done but it was done never the less! I then apologized to him for doing so!
I proceeded to talk to him about the irritations that I did have with him and told him that I hope not to hurt his feelings about anything but I still felt the need to tell him anyway.
He was great! He listened patiently as I talked with him and told him the problems I was having. I asked him if he would work on them and he agreed.
I believe that I did the right thing in approaching him and speaking to him and asking his forgiveness for my lying to him. Whether I intended to do so or not, I still sinned against him. This was why I apologized to him.
Then I started to think about what I would do if I never had the chance to correct my mistake. What if I didn't know the person and would never see them again? Or what if something happened to someone which prevented me from being able to apologize? These are all very difficult questions for me!
Has any of you ever done something you regret and not been able to apologize for it? You know the feelings I'm talking about then. The guilt! The shame! The frustration! How do you make up for something that you can't make up for?
Hebrews 4:13 says:
'Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.'
So you have backslid on God. So you have sinned against your fellow man. So there is no way to right the wrong with that fellow man. But you can right yourself with God! When you find that you have sinned against God or your fellow man, go boldly to His throne of grace and thank Him that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, so that we may be reunited with God in a loving relationship that is guilt free of the sins we have committed! It doesn't matter how far down the path of sin you have gone or even what sins you have committed! What does matter is that when you turn away from your sins, Jesus is standing right there, right behind you, ready to lead you back to the true path that leads to a loving relationship with God the Father through the Son, Jesus Christ!
I turned from my sin and when I did so, Jesus was right there giving to me His grace that I could work with Him to restore my relationship with my friend and also with God! I can now rest in the knowledge that the grace of God has allowed me be guilt free of all the sins which I have committed, even though I may never see the persons I have sinned against again!
See, forgiveness is not for those whom you have wronged! It is for you who did the wrong in the first place! For a life full of guilt and shame is no good life to live and it will drag you down every time. But being free of that guilt and shame in your life is the true freedom that Jesus came to free us from!
Romans Chapter 6 says this better than I ever could in verses 14-23:
'For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.'
Isn't that one of the most beautiful passages of scripture ever? I do love it! We have been freed from sin! Thank you Lord Jesus for your sacrifice so that we may be restored to a loving relationship with God the Father and Yourself!
May God bless you all this night!
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