Christian's Soap

We have this menatality that Christ died for all our sins up until now, but from this point on we're gonna get our act together. WRONG! That's just an invitation to take a big spill. That's not a license to sin, it's just an incorrect thought. You need to ask yourself, how many of your sins were future when Christ hung on the cross? The answer is ALL of them were. Christ died for ALL your sins - past, present, and future. What you do when you sin (and the time will occur), is say - Praise God, the flesh is just what you said it was and you quoted it. Then you get on your knees and grab the Christian's bar of soap (Chuck Missler said this in one of his recent podcasts and I thought it was pretty great).

If you abide in Him you can clean up your life when you muck it up with sin. I John 1:9 is the Christian's bar of soap. It reads, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness." That's not a figure of speech, that's a promise. Being cleansed from all unrighteous makes you righteous in God's eyes once again. Randy Alcorn made a statement in his book titled Heaven, that "God is in the restoration business." He will do just that.

There will be consequences for your sin, but we can and should be thankful for those consequences because His discipline is yet more proof that He loves us.

A New Leaf

He came to my desk with a quivering lip,
The lesson was done.
"Have you a new sheet for me, dear teacher?
I've spoiled this one."
I took his sheet, all soiled and blotted
And gave him a new one all unspotted.
And into his tired heart I cried,
"Do better now, my child."

I went to the throne with a trembling heart;
The day was done.
"Have you a new day for me, dear Master?
I've spoiled this one."He took my day, all soiled and blotted
And gave me a new one all unspotted.
And into my tired heart he cried,
"Do better now, my child."

(Anonymous, “A New Leaf,” James G. Lawson, compiler, The Best Loved Religious Poems (Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1961).)