The Scarlet & the Forgiven

I can’t tell you the amount of times I do or say something silly and think to myself “Ugh I did/said it again” and shy away from asking God for forgiveness. I often feel like apostle Paul when he said

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:15-19)

Few years ago I was walking in the snow and took a picture of the railway sign. The red color and the snow reminded me of a Bible verse from Isaiah 1:18

“Come now, and let us reason together, ‘ Says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’ “

I was reminded of the love our heavenly Father has for us.

We don’t deserve it… But still he loves us unconditionally.

I know that no matter how hard I may try to be perfect for God… I won’t be.

“Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you.” (Psalm 51:16)

But that shouldn’t give me a reason to be sad! Instead I should be happy! Because God told Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9

“My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.”

Paul goes on to say

“… So I will brag even more about my weaknesses in order that Christ’s power will live in me. Therefore, I accept weakness, mistreatment, hardship, persecution, and difficulties suffered for Christ. It’s clear that when I’m weak, I’m strong.” ( 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 )

“Now that we have God’s approval by faith, we have peace with God because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. Through Christ we can approach God and stand in his favor. So we brag because of our confidence that we will receive glory from God. But that’s not all. We also brag when we are suffering. We know that suffering creates endurance, endurance creates character, and character creates confidence. We’re not ashamed to have this confidence, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Look at it this way: At the right time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for ungodly people. Finding someone who would die for a godly person is rare. Maybe someone would have the courage to die for a good person. Christ died for us while we were still sinners. This demonstrates God’s love for us.

Since Christ’s blood has now given us God’s approval, we are even more certain that Christ will save us from God’s anger. If the death of his Son restored our relationship with God while we were still his enemies, we are even more certain that, because of this restored relationship, the life of his Son will save us. In addition, our Lord Jesus Christ lets us continue to brag about God. After all, it is through Christ that we now have this restored relationship with God.” (Romans 5:1-11)

“With one sacrifice he accomplished the work of setting them (humans) apart for God forever. The Holy Spirit tells us the same thing: “This is the promise that I will make to them after those days, says the Lord: ‘I will put my teachings in their hearts and write them in their minds.’”

Then he adds, “I will no longer hold their sins and their disobedience against them.”

Brothers and sisters, because of the blood of Jesus we can now confidently go into the holy place. Jesus has opened a new and living way for us to go through the curtain. (The curtain is his own body.) We have a superior priest in charge of God’s house. We have been sprinkled with his blood to free us from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with clean water. So we must continue to come to him with a sincere heart and strong faith. We must continue to hold firmly to our declaration of faith. The one who made the promise is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:14-23)

We must believe that when we pray God listens, When we tell him our sins and ask for forgiveness he forgives.

“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, give thanks, because it is God’s will in Christ Jesus that you do this. Don’t put out the Spirit’s fire. Don’t despise what God has revealed. Instead, test everything. Hold on to what is good. Keep away from every kind of evil. May the God who gives peace make you holy in every way. May he keep your whole being—spirit, soul, and body—blameless when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.“ ( 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24)

 “We need to hold on to our declaration of faith: We have a superior chief priest who has gone through the heavens. That person is Jesus, the Son of God. We have a chief priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way that we are, but he didn’t sin. So we can go confidently to the throne of God’s kindness to receive mercy and find kindness, which will help us at the right time.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Shying away from God with our sins and not repenting won’t do us any good. I know you must be thinking “But if I tell him… He will attack me with lightning!” Haha! Nooo trust me He wont!

I thought I share this picture I took from my bible that talks about repentance

We need to repent. And if you’re wondering how does one repent? It’s simple! You just talk to God like you would to any friend… out loud or in your heart! But if you don’t know it’s okay! Just pray the prayer Jesus taught His disciples when they asked Him to teach them how to pray:

“Our Father in heaven, let your name be kept holy. Let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Give us our daily bread today. Forgive us as we forgive others. Don’t allow us to be tempted. Instead, rescue us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:9-13)

I was going to write more… but now looking over I think the Bible scriptures have done a good job on their own… so no need to add more! But I do want to end by saying, Believe and surrender your sins to God. And rejoice for the Lord is your strength! 🙂

The Adulteress Woman

“At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” – John 8:2-11