PSALM 103:8-13 – The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”
THEME OF THE DAY: DEALING WITH OURSELVES. An important part of living a life of joy as the Lord would have us is seeing ourselves, and then dealing with ourselves, as God does. But first, we need to address two things.
First, we cannot make excuses for any sin. This means no “going light” in our attitude about sin and giving us a pass when we fail by sinning. Sin is serious. Very. It cost Jesus His life and to toy with sin, have a low view of sin, and worse, tolerate any sin reveals one of two spiritual conditions; a severely backslidden Christian or not a real Christian despite what we profess or believe.
The other extreme is to be so hard on ourselves over our sin, we live joyless Christian lives with a heavy cloud hanging over our hearts and spirits of false guilt and condemnation. There is no rejoicing in the Lord because of a constant battle of unbelief toward the Lord and His promises. And genuine Christians may fall into this ploy of the devil.
So, what do we do? Today’s scriptures. We fight hard to renew our minds with the truth of God’s Word as He shows us how to deal with ourselves and our sin by the ways He deals with us and our sin. And how does He? Two ways.
First God declares He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. Why? He dealt with them through His Son, the Lord Jesus. And God will not, nor cannot, punish our sins twice. The sacrifice of Jesus was once and sufficient. Don’t place ourselves above God in dealing with our sins. When He said, “It is finished”, we must also tell ourselves when tempted to doubt God’s forgiveness, “It is finished.”
Another truth from God in dealing with ourselves as He does is the removal of our sins. Not only must we refuse to deal with ourselves according to our sins, but remind ourselves what God has done with them. He has separated them from us the point they may never again be joined to us – as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. When tempted to “bring them back” upon our conscience, stop and remember how far God has removed them from us. They cannot be rejoined.
In dealing with ourselves, let’s pray the Lord helps us to do so as He does. It will bring us more consistent joy and peace as we walk in His truth.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to deal with myself and my sin as You deal with me and my sin.”
QUOTE: “Guard against two things; going too light on ourselves and sin or being too hard on ourselves and sin.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim