Lighten the Load

Most days my daughter comes home from school with a 50 pound back pack on her shoulders. As she walks into the house, she positions herself just right to let the heavy bag slide down her arm and onto the floor. I can hear her let out a sigh of relief and see her body relax from finally getting out from under the burden of carrying that bag around all day. Guilt is like that backpack. I tend to carry around the weight of sin and not confess it so quickly, usually only until it gets to be so heavy that I just can't go on any longer. I wonder why I skirt around certain sins and not confess them so quickly, relieving the weight of those from my "bag". The Bible says in 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." and in Isaiah 43:24-25 it states, "You haven't been stingy with your sins. You've been plenty generous with them-I'm fed up...." This is where I usually stop in my mind. I tend to concentrate on the thought, "Oh, I have really done it now!" and just like a child, I avoid the confession of wrong doing. It just doesn't feel good to admit that perhaps I have done something wrong and have not lived up to a standard. Oh, and what about the punishment? Maybe in the back of my mind I think that once I admit my wrong doing, God is going to make me pay for it. But fortunately, God doesn't stop there, He goes on to say, "But, I, yes I , am the one who takes care of your sins-that's what I do. I don't keep a list of your sins." What? You don't keep a list???

When I try to wrap my mind around the fact that God does not keep a running list of my sins, it blows my mind. It's another one of those things about God that makes me fascinated with Him. It is a trait He has that makes me scratch my head and say, "How does He do that?" It is also very humbling because, guess what.... I DO keep a running list of my sins and usually everybody elses sins as well. This is another one of those times that reminds me that He is God and I am not!

When I know that God will remember my sins no more and that he is not keeping a running tab on them, how free am I to confess to him and have my slate wiped clean, the burdened lifted? Why would I run and hide from that? God does allow us to suffer the natural consequences for our actions, but we do not have to PAY for our sins. It has already been done through Christ's death on the cross. When one experiences that type of relief and freedom and grasps that concept of who God is, the soul naturally breaks out into a worshipful and joyful mode and can't help but want to share the remedy for the weighted bag with others.

footnote:

can you see how easily I can slide down a slippery slope of thoughts in the wrong direction if I am not applying God's truth to my thought life daily and even moment by moment.