Good Tuesday morning! I read an interview with a college coach this morning wherein he complained that because the college had turned itself in to the NCAA and punished the staff and students involved that they should be free of further punishment. Do you suppose that would work with God? Somehow I don't think so. For one thing if turning ourselves in and levying our own punishment upon ourselves would work, then Jesus need not have died for our sins. Secondly, who would choose eternal punishment in Hell as fitting for their own sin? Not me, I'm quite sure that I would let myself off somewhat easier than that. We can turn ourselves in, we have to in fact to repent of our sins, but we cannot decide our own punishment. Instead we turn ourselves in and beg for mercy and forgiveness.
While a human organization such as the NCAA will never catch every rules violation, God already knows of our every sin. Turning ourselves in is only the beginning of forgiveness. We may still suffer punishment even though the price for all of our sins has been paid for by Jesus. At the same time, God will not constantly remind us of sins already forgiven. In this life, you may hear about a humiliating mistake at times for the remainder of your earthly life. People often delight in extended psychological torture; we sometimes call it "going home" or "visiting my hometown." Each of us have had it happen to us: "I remember the time you..." and the torturer will tighten the rack of memory another notch. God doesn't bring up old sins in that manner. The Bible tells us that once a sin is forgiven, God puts it as far from him as the east is from the west. I like to be reminded of that, especially when old sins are paraded through my memory. Trust in God and leave your old sins where He has put them; far, far away.
Have a wonderful day in Jesus!
Bucky
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