Wednesday, July 6, 2011

A guest post by Mike.

I love my children. The older they get, the more often they bail me out of my self-induced blog neglect. And since I am up to my eyeballs editing a really fantastic unit study this week, Mike stepped up and sent this guest post.


I have something my parents call "The Father Confessor Gene."  This is the gene that makes you a prime target for drama-queens, lonely weird people, and those who have really screwed-up life stories.  Most of the time I don't mind, but there are those times when I have told people to fix the unnecessary drama before they talk to me again.  And those are just some of the guys.  I've learned things about my generation's women that make me fear for the survival of humanity.

But I digress.

The Father Confessor Gene, as you might be able to tell from the name, means that people look to you for forgiveness of their sins, even though you can't forgive anyone's sins at all.  They explain what they were thinking, make excuses, try to justify their behavior . . . and in the end, they're no more convinced of their own justification than when they started.

And for non-Christians, that's just where I want them—lost, and knowing it.  But when a Christian does this, it makes me a little crazy.

See, when God saves someone, He forgives them of every sin they have ever committed.  And since that's not quite awesome enough for such a great God as He is, He also forgives all the sins they have yet to commit.

And still, that's not good enough for God.  So He takes that sin, and buries it in something called the Sea of Forgetfulness. God chooses to not remember that sin—which is exactly as if it had never happened in the first place.  That is the power of the blood sacrifice of Jesus.

Now here's where I get a little irritated with Christians: If you asked God to forgive you, He did.  Period.  That is the promise of 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So if you're already forgiven, why are you still acting like God didn't follow his own word?

God is a great God, who always keeps his promises.  If you, as a Christian, asked for his forgiveness, you got it.  So riddle me this: Who are you to go scuba-diving in the Sea of God's Forgetfulness, dredging up things he has already dealt with?

God always forgives you permanently, even if you don't.  So if you are forgiven, live like it.  Go, and sin no more.

And be thankful, for such forgiveness as this.

4 comments:

Catherine said...

So true! Reminds me of the lyric to an old Margaret Becker song:

"What do I see you draggin' up here?
Is that for your atoning?
I know your sorry, I've seen your tears.
You don't have to show me.
What makes you think you must make that go away?
I forgot when I forgave ..."

Connie said...

I have a shirt that addresses that. It says "When Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future." Satan tries to drag us down, we have to remember that once we truly confess God remembers it no more.
Great post Mike!

Anonymous said...

Excellent reminder of eternal truths! Thank you for this post.

Catherine said...

Well, shoot! The correct spelling on the third line should be "you're." Never let it be said that I let my Grammarian Cousin down!