Faith

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So you made a terrible mistake years ago and although you’d rather not to talk about it, you can’t help but think about it—because it’s right there, etched in your memory like a scar. You’ve asked God for forgiveness and you have no doubt that He has forgiven you. The problem is, that even though you say you have forgiven yourself, the sin keeps coming back into your mind. No matter how often you pray about it, no matter how much good you do, that sin seems to be stuck with you. What’s the problem? Has God truly forgiven you?

Well, the Bible teaches us that if we repent of our sins, we are forgiven—no matter how awful they may have been, God is faithful in forgiving us. However, there’s a process that follows on from God’s forgiveness. Read this:

“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3.19)

This verse tells us to ‘repent’ by recognising and stopping the practise of that sin. It also tells us to ‘RETURN’, that is, to go back and put things right. If you only recognise your sin and ask for forgiveness, you’ll only be completing part of the repentance process. And that could be the reason why you feel as though you are not totally free from that sin.

Go back to the person you hurt and let them know that you are sorry. Who knows, perhaps your sin was not only against one person but also against a whole group of people, or even the church. If you don’t go back and put things right, they’ll never know that you are apologetic— which is fine but it can poke at your conscience for a long time.

You will benefit most by putting things right. People may not even care about what you did, or they may get really annoyed with you. But at least you’ll be relieved of that big burden that is too heavy for you, and anyone else for that matter!

The more one hides his sins, the darker the place he gets himself into. It’s dark and intimidating. Doubts are plentiful in that place. You can’t look anyone in the eye because you feel as though they can see right through you, as if they know exactly what you’ve done.

The wages of sin is death. Now imagine carrying that weight around with you 24/7. But when our conscience is free from accusations, when we can look others in the eye and not be afraid to be who we are…

That’s when we finally enjoy God’s forgiveness. The past stays in the past. We can start afresh with no fear. No more looking over our shoulder, instead, we can now look straight ahead.
We’re free to go for whatever we want. We’re free to fight for and demand our rights.

In faith,

Cristiane Cardoso
www.cristianecardoso.com

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