Monday, December 15, 2014

Who I USED to be.....

The other day I was talking to a friend, and made a comment about how he used to be a jerk in high school. He looked at me somewhat sadly and said, "yes, but I have already apologized to you for that." And he had. He came to me one day and asked me how he had treated me in high school, and then apologized for any times that he might have been mean to me. You see, he is a different person than he was then. Because a while back, he was saved. And part of being saved means you turn your back on your past life, and start living a new life for God. Sometimes part of that life means going to people who you have wronged and asking forgiveness. Or forgiving people you have been angry at, whether they have asked for it or not. Its not always easy, but if God forgives us, who are we to not forgive. But forgiveness isn't really what I have on my mind at the moment. Well, it is, but again it isn't. What I am pondering so deeply, is this. How powerful is the forgiveness that comes from God. We know we are forgiven through the blood of Christ. But how powerful is that blood?

I think we as people seem to make levels of sin. You have your gossipers and your gluttons, the little white liars. Then your big fat liars, your thieves, your adulterers. And then you have your murderers, your child molesters and people like Hitler, Bin Laden, etc. But I have never seen anywhere in the bible that lists greater or lesser sins. They are all listed as sins. So, based on that, the nice little grandma that sits at the cafe and "bears false witness against her neighbor" by gossiping, is actually just as bad as the terrible serial killer with fifteen dead bodies in his back yard. In GOD's eyes. Sin is sin. So, now that I have taken the long way around the barn, what I am pondering, is this. Is the blood of Christ powerful enough to wash away the sins of the mass murderer the same as the little ol granny? In my book the answer is yes. If the murderer repents, and TRULY turns his life over to God. So why is it that we as people, decide that the blood of Christ is strong enough to cover small sins, but not enough to cover big ugly sins? Or if we agree that it is strong enough, why do we continue to drag a repentant person thru the muck and mire of their past sinful life, rather than forgive them truly and let it be in the past.

We are supposed to be Christians. To be "Christ Like". And in all the verses that I have read, when Jesus forgave someone of their sins, it was forgiven, as far as the east is from the west. I don't remember Him ever running in to the Samaritan woman later and calling her that woman who used to be an adulterer. I don't recall Him acting that way towards the woman He saved from stoning. I don't remember Him constantly rubbing the disciples noses in the fact that they bailed on Him, or that Peter denied Him. And I feel fairly confident that when I stand before God's throne, He is not going to say "well there's Beckie, she USED to be a grudge holder," He is going to say, "there is Beckie, she trusted in My Son for salvation, she is My child." So as Godly people, why aren't we treating our brothers and sisters the same way. Why do we feel the need to drag up their past, if we claim to have forgiven them? Or if they didn't wrong us, but we know that their past is not a shiny one, why do we expect people do forget our own sketchy past and not extend that same measure of grace to them?

Our past is just that, its our past. And if GOD can forgive us for it, through the blood of His Son, then are we better than He is, to continue down that road of judgement and unforgiveness? Are we going to have to realize that we might actually see repentant murderers in Heaven, while sweet little grandma's go to hell because they never got saved. Its a hard pill to swallow. But its the way it is. But my goal is to stop reminding people about how they USED to be. If you USED to be a jerk, if you USED to be a liar, if you USED to do drugs, drink, swear, or whatever, and you turned your life over to God, then that is not who you are any more. For those I have judged by old standards, I apologize. For those that perhaps have judged ME by old standards, please realize that I am not that person anymore. I struggle at times, I fail and at times I am not very Christ-like, but I am NOTHING like how I USED to be. And I am so very thankful for that.

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