My heart has been stirred lately about the kindness and mercy of the Lord. Even His children can still find themselves in sin that can become too comfortable and familiar. I have to remind myself that this Christian life is a battle. We must fight - with the strength of our victorious Redeemer - if we are to stand a chance against the daily battles and temptations that our enemy would love to see overwhelm and devour us (1 Peter 5:8). But praise the Lord that, by His grace and mercy, He always provides a way of escape from these snares so that we do not have to sin (1 Corinthians 10:13). As children of God, we are not slaves to sin any longer (Romans 6). Hallelujah! Yet, when we do sin, our God "is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). But He extends forgiveness for His glory. He extends forgiveness, not that we should continue in sin (Romans 6:1-2), but that we should - in repentance (Romans 2:4) - turn from our sin and fear Him, the Almighty, Holy God who "upholds the universe by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:3).
This leads us to the verse I felt lead to meditate on this week. Psalm 130:3 & 4, remind us of how sinful we are, the beauty of forgiveness, and God's purpose in extending forgiveness to mankind. Let's hide this in our hearts and may this ammunition deter us from sinning against our Holy God. Oh, to sin no more!
"If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with You,
that You may be feared."
Psalm 130:3&4 (NKJV)
*click here for ESV
No comments:
Post a Comment