Faith and Acceptance
As my conscience has been quickened by the Holy Spirit, I have seen something of the evil of sin, of its power, its guilt, its woe; and I look upon it with abhorrence. I feel that sin has separated me from God, that I am in bondage to the power of evil. The more I struggle to escape, the more I realize my helplessness. My motives are impure; my heart is unclean. I see that my life has been filled with selfishness and sin. I long to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to be set free. Harmony with God, likeness to Him -- what can I do to obtain it?
It is peace that I need--Heaven's forgiveness
and peace and love in my soul. Money cannot buy it, intellect
cannot procure it, wisdom cannot attain to it; I can never hope,
by my own efforts, to secure it. But God offers it to me as a
gift, "without money and without cost."
It is mine if I will but reach out my
hand and grasp it. The Lord says, "Though your sins are
like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red
as crimson, they shall be like wool.""I will give you a new heart and
put a new spirit in you."
I have confessed my sins, and in heart put them away. I have resolved to give myself to God. Now I need to go to Him and ask that He will wash away my sins and give me a new heart. Then I need to believe that He does this simply because He has promised to do so. This is the lesson which Jesus taught while He was on earth, that the gift which God promises me, I must believe that I receive, and it is mine.
Jesus healed the people of their diseases when
they had faith in His power; He helped them in the things which
they could see, thus inspiring them with confidence in Him
concerning things which they could not see -- leading them to
believe in His power to forgive sins. This He plainly stated in
the healing of the man sick with palsy: "'That you may
know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive
sins....' Then he said to the paralytic, 'Get up, take your mat
and go home.'" So also John the evangelist says,
speaking of the miracles of Christ, "These are written
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in his name." From
the simple Bible account of how Jesus healed the sick, I may
learn something about how to believe in Him for the forgiveness
of sins. I can also consider the story of the paralytic at
Bethesda. The poor sufferer was helpless; he had not used his
limbs for thirty-eight years. Yet Jesus bade him, "Get
up! Pick up you mat and walk." The sick man might have
said, "Lord, if you will make me whole, I will obey your
word." But, no, he believed Christ's word, believed that he
was made whole, and he made the effort at once; he willed (chose)
to walk, and he did walk. He acted on the word of Christ, and God
gave the power. He was made whole.
In like manner I am a sinner. I cannot atone for my past sins; I cannot change my heart and make myself holy. But God promises to do all this for me through Christ. I believe the promise. I confess my sins and give myself to God. I choose to serve Him. Just as surely as I do this, God will fulfill His word to me. If I believe the promise -- believe that I am forgiven and cleansed -- God supplies the fact; I are made whole, just as Christ gave the paralytic power to walk when the man believed that he was healed. It is so if I believe it.
I should not wait to feel that I am made whole, but say, "I believe it; it is so, not because I feel it, but because God has promised."
Jesus says, "Whatever you ask for in
prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be
yours." There is a condition to this promise --
that I pray according to the will of God. But, it is the will of
God to cleanse me from sin, to make me His child, and to enable
me to live a holy life. So I may ask for these blessings, and
believe that I receive them, and thank God that I have received
them. It is my privilege to go to Jesus and be cleansed, and to
stand before the law of love without shame or remorse. "There
is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do
not live according to the sinful nature but according to the
Spirit."
Henceforth I am not my own; I am bought with a
price. "It was not with perishable things such as silver
or gold that you were redeemed... but with the precious blood of
Jesus, a lamb without blemish or defect." Through this simple act of believing God,
the Holy Spirit has begotten a new life in my heart. I am as a
child born into the family of God, and He loves me as He loves
His Son. Now that I have given myself to Jesus, I dare not draw
back, I dare not take myself away from Him, but day by day say,
"I am Jesus'; I have given myself to Him;" and ask Him
to give me His Spirit and keep me by His grace. As it is by
giving myself to God, and believing Him, that I become His child,
so I am to live in Him. The apostle says, "As you
received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him."
I am inclinded to feel that I must be on probation, and must prove to the Lord that I am reformed, before I can claim His blessing. But I may claim the blessing of God even now. I must have His grace, the Spirit of Christ, to help my infirmities, or I cannot resist evil. Jesus loves to have me come to Him just as I am, sinful, helpless, dependent. I may come with all my weakness, my folly, my sinfulness, and fall at His feet in penitence. It is His glory to encircle me in the arms of His love and to bind up my wounds, to cleanse me from all impurity.
Here is where I could fail; I might not believe that Jesus pardons me personally, individually. I might not take God at His word. It is my privilege as I comply with the conditions to know for myself that pardon is freely extended for every sin. I need to away the suspicion that God's promises are not meant for me. They are for every repentant transgressor such as I. Strength and grace have been provided through Christ to be brought by ministering angels to my believing soul. I could never be so sinful that I cannot find strength, purity, and righteousness in Jesus, who died for me. He is waiting to strip me of my garments stained and polluted with sin, and to put upon me the white robes of righteousness; He bids me live and not die.
God does not deal with me as finite men deal
with one another. His thoughts are thoughts of mercy, love, and
tenderest compassion. He says, "Let the wicked forsake
his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord,
and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely
pardon." "I have swept away your offenses
like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist."
"I take no pleasure in the death of
anyone, delcares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!"
Satan is ready to steal away the blessed assurances of God. He
desires to take every glimmer of hope and every ray of light from
my soul; but I must not permit him to do this. I dare not give
ear to the tempter, but say, "Jesus has died that I might
live. He loves me, and wills not that I should perish. I have a
compassionate heavenly Father; and although I have abused His
love, though the blessings He has given me have been squandered,
I will arise, and go to my Father, and say, 'I have sinned
against heaven and aginst you. I am no more worthy to be called
your son: make me like one of your hired men.'" The
parable tells me how a wanderer will be received: "While
he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled
with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around
him and kissed him."
But even this parable, tender and touching as
it is, comes short of expressing the infinite compassion of the
heavenly Father. The Lord declares by His prophet, "I
have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with
loving-kindness." While I, the sinner,
is yet far from the Father's house, wasting my substance in a
strange country, the Father's heart is yearning over me; and
every longing awakened in my soul to return to God is but the
tender pleading of His Spirit, wooing, entreating, drawing this
wanderer to my Father's heart of love.
With the rich promises of the Bible before me,
can I give place to doubt? Can I believe that when the poor
sinner longs to return, longs to forsake his sins, the Lord
sternly withholds him from coming to His feet in repentance? Away
with such thoughts! Nothing can hurt my own soul more than to
entertain such a conception of my heavenly Father. He hates sin,
but He loves me, the sinner, and He gave Himself in the person of
Christ, that I may be saved and have eternal blessedness in the
kingdom of glory. What stronger or more tender language could
have been employed than He has chosen in which to express His
love toward me? He declares, "Can a mother forget the
baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has
borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!"
If I am ever doubting and trembling, I need but to look up; for Jesus lives to make intercession for me. I thank God for the gift of His dear Son and pray that He may not have died for me in vain. The Spirit invites me today. Come with my whole heart to Jesus, and I may claim His blessing.
As I read the promises, remember they are the
expression of unutterable love and pity. The great heart of
Infinite Love is drawn toward me, the sinner, with boundless
compassion. "We have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins." Yes, I need only believe that God is my
helper. He wants to restore His moral image in me. As I draw near
to Him with confession and repentance, He will draw near to me
with mercy and forgiveness.