As Christian’s we are constantly being watched by the world, and by those around us. The world is ready to pounce at any moment when they see people who claim Christ make mistakes, bad choices. It makes them feel better about themselves and confirms what they perceive to be the truth of who Christ believers really are. Liars, losers, cheats, thieves etc… no better than they are, which is true to a point, we have one thing though that makes us different. that thing that sets us apart, we have been forgiven, we are heaven bound, sons and daughters of The Most-High God. We have been born again. Should we be any of those things listed no, but as long as we carry this dead flesh around we will struggle, not be defeated by, but struggle with one sin or another.

Here is the truth, we are going to mess up, fall down, however you want to say it. As we grow in Christ hopefully it is less often with less severity, but mess up we will. What can we do “about that?” What should our reaction be to our sin? First, the Holy Spirit in us will not allow us to linger long in the wrong place, physically or spiritually. If we are truly born again we are going to know we are in sin, we are wrong. The Holy Spirit tells us we are. Once we are aware our actions or words are wrong we need to repent. Repentance is not just saying I am sorry with our lips, it is a posture of the heart. That deep awareness and distress even at knowing that we have offended God by our actions and words. If you never feel convicted of anything…you might want to examine your heart to see if you truly are his child. We have an advocate. He prays for us all the time. And because we have this Advocate, we are pronounced clean.

Scripture tells us that if we go to Jesus with a sincere heart, confess our sins, he will forgive us.
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.”

1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

Ephesians 1:7-8 “In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.”

After we have repented of “that” whatever it may be, scripture tells us that times of refreshing will come. Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”

Refreshing means to “take a breath”, “to give rest,” “quiet,” “revive” or to “invigorate.” Don’t you feel as though you need to be revived, to be invigorated after you come in from wallering in sin? The filth that you have accumulated while you ignored the Holy Spirit as He was trying to draw you back and proceeded to do whatever it was you had decided to do? Isn’t God good to give us that refreshing, that revival. His desire is that we do not sin, but when we do “that” sin he is waiting, longing for us to turn from it and come back under his Lordship and be made new once again. He is the only one who can make us new, cause us to walk away from “that” which causes us so much pain and hurt; that makes us step back in our relationship with Christ out of shame and embarrassment.

No matter what “that” sin you have committed is, no matter who it was with, or how many times it happened, it does not matter, God is there, waiting for His child to turn and run home, back into his arms. Sin is sin, no matter what it is, other than denying Christ there is nothing that cannot be forgiven.

Trust his love for you, trust his word, turn, run, receive. Once you have tasted the forgiveness of the Lord you tend to not want to do “that” again. Sometimes, we fail…but sometimes we soar, as we grow in our wisdom and knowledge of Christ and understand that we really are “wretched” and in need of forgiveness and restoration.

As we move ever closer to Christ, we tend to shed layers of our filth, not wanting to return to the pig pen from whence we came but wanting to wear that new garment of worship and praise for the only one able to make us new. “That cannot steal your salvation, but it can and will steal your joy and your fellowship. So, the next time you are sitting in the place of decision, remember that if God says no, it for our good…trust him and walk away…then you will not have the consequences to deal with, but can experience that small “well done” from your Father.