Sin is a part of our lives from the very beginning. We may think we are pretty good. The fact is, we maybe pretty, but 'good', only God is good.
I once struggled with what we are taught in Psalm 51:5, see below. Since God made us, how is it we are made sinful? But, I do believe this is the inspired word of God, just as all of the Bible. So, I have to seek to understand or at least think about its purpose.
There are other ways to look at the source of our sin, but one helpful way is to understand a purpose of our sinfulness we are born with. It certainly seems we are born with a survival instinct and programmed with the desire, perhaps a selfish desire for self preservation, and according to Psalm 51:5, this begins at the time of conception. Certainly, when we come into this world, we are crying, demanding, and maybe screaming with great desire for our needs to be met. You might not want to consider this sin, but at some point very soon in our lives, our crying and demanding become selfish sinfulness if we are not taught differently. The net result is the same- we are selfish sinful people, and we have to accept it, get over it, and seek to become the patient people God intends us to be.
From that moment of crying, we begin an education of leaning to be patient and forgiving if our whims, needs, and wants are not met in accordance with our time table or desire. The problem is some people do not get a very good education and their cries, demands, and screams become not for just their needs but more so for their wants. We all have to learn to fight the temptation to impatiently demand our wants and be patient in receiving our needs. Herein lies much of our sin against others and God. Self-centered demand of our wants inhibits our ability to form and maintain relationships; in that, it affects our happiness and joy in life.
Learning to forgive others is perhaps, one of the hardest behaviors we do. For most people, loving God is far easier than loving others, but, it is the command of Jesus that we do both- forgive and love. But, best of all, Jesus is right and He showed us the way. In His death on the cross He showed us love, in His life He demonstrated love, and in His resurrection, God verified the Truth of Jesus' love and His words.
Jesus' command to love others survives the "acid test" of living life. In the western world, we live in a throw away society that goes by one acid test:
'IF something works, we keep it and use it;
if it does not work, we simply throw it away."
Loving others works for us and is truly good for us!
Loving others begins by forgiving them of their sins against us. What others do against God is not so much our business,
our business is dealing with what others do against us.
In your everyday life, you would not pick up a 25 pound bag (say 10 kilos) of sand and carry it around on your back because it felt good and heavy, and then add to it. Well, not forgiving others is worse.
Oh, sometimes we like to harbor our dislike for what others have done to us. We even cultivate it by throwing it in their face from time to time dumping on them, "Remember when you ..." every time we can. It supposedly makes us feel better to make them feel bad.
Very often, we are the most harmed by this behavior and become our own worst enemy. This behavior of unforgiveness is like that bag of sand. In many ways, it gets heavier and heavier and we eventually collapse under its weight. And, then we do not understand why we feel depressed.
The irony of that baggage is that many people might not remember events the way we think we remember them. They just put the conflict behind them, or maybe they apologized and we were just too unforgiving to remember or accept the apology. In these instances, the other person has put the whole incident behind them, and rightly or wrongly no longer considers the issue. So, in our unforgiveness, we are the only ones who suffer, and can suffer greatly in our own self-inflicted depression.
Forgiving the sins of others-
it works.
Forgiving others works in that
it lightens the baggage of our burdens,
it removes our barriers to friendships and
best of all,
best of all,
it builds our relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus tells us to love and forgive others.
He really did know what was and is good for us and our eternity.
But, there is one more thing to consider:
We have to learn to forgive ourselves and
that can be the hardest lesson of all.
Ask God, He will forgive you,
so move on from your sin by forgiving yourself.
Life is much more full of Joy
when there are no barriers
between you and your relationship with God.
But, there is one more thing to consider:
We have to learn to forgive ourselves and
that can be the hardest lesson of all.
Ask God, He will forgive you,
so move on from your sin by forgiving yourself.
Life is much more full of Joy
when there are no barriers
between you and your relationship with God.
- "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. "
John 20:23 NIV
"If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
Thanks Be to God
© lonnie
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lonnie coggins
author, editor
"A Daily Thought"
Psalm 51
1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassionblot out my transgressions.2Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.4Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.5Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.6Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.7Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.9Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.10Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.11Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.12Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.13Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.14Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.16You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.18In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.19Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight you; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
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