What Defines You?

This article is part 2 of 9 in the series Divorce and Remarriage

   Things happen… things change. Christians don’t ‘go to heaven in a straight line, we make mistakes, sin, get up and try again, and again… Christ did not come here to ‘be like us’ as much as He wanted us to ‘be like Him’..
   O how short we fall in doing this.Yet He loves us, yet He saves us, yet he continues to cleanse and forgive us. He lived perfectly sinless here. Yes He came, took on flesh, lived among mankind with a supreme purpose only seen in a humility that is found in Him.
   O how far short we fall in living up to His example.
   Yet He is willing to love  us to the end. Yet he was willing to walk and carry the cross in my stead… my cross. The very one I should have carried, been nailed to.
   What defines you? What defines me?

   David sinned terribly. He was in a position of leadership as the King of Israel. People looked to him to be an example of trusting in Jehovah… he failed. Psalm 51
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
4  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
5  Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6  Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7  Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8  Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9  Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10  Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13  Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.
14  Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15  Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16  You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17  My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
18  May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19  Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

   The prophet Nathan had accomplished the mission… (2 Samuel 12) Verse 13 “Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” It took a lot to bring a king to his knees… Sometimes it is the same with us.

   We sing the song, “The Lamb of God” and it says in the second verse, “I was so lost I should have died.” Paul says  “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2  in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

   What defined David at this time? SINNER! LOST! ADULTERER! MURDERER! THIEF! UNWORTHY BEYOND BELIEF!!!

   BUT… God forgave, and God forgives….

Psalm 32 “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
2  Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3  When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4  For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
5  Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
6  Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.
7  You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.
8  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
9  Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.
10  Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.
11  Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

   Were there consequences for David? Yes. But he never repeated what he had done to break God’s heart.

   What defines you? What defines me? This determines largely, what is on our minds and in our hearts when get up in the morning, and how we deal with life, responding, reacting to people as we go through life. It determines our direction and what opportunities we accept or reject. Carrying the past is not that way the Lord wants His people to live, and certainly not why He died.

   Paul said “Forgetting what is behind…. he pressed forward….” Let me encourage you in this.. God through his grace forgives to the “uttermost”, even you… even me…. and now standing forgiven, redeemed by his blood…. move forward. Repenting of the past means not repeating it, learning from it, learning now and forever more, WHO IS LORD of your life, and trusting in him with all you’ve got. Do not allow the past to DEFINE YOUR PRESENT AND FUTURE….

   If you are not a Christian, and want to be one of the redeemed…. then repent and be immersed for the forgiveness of all sins… and embark on a marvelous journey…. The journey of the redeemed.

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