There is Forgiveness at the Cross

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatian 5:1

Many times since my abortion I struggle with understanding how I could have done such a thing. I did a lot of research. I read a lot of articles on what abortion was, what happens, how it affects everyone, and knew in my heart that it was wrong, yet I went through with it. Chapter 6 of my post-abortion Bible study covered what it means to face the cross. It was a powerful chapter and it generated a lot of thoughts and truths about my life. I wish to share with you some of what I learned.

The chapter started off looking at the nature of man. Man, by nature is sinful, we are all born into sin and will all struggle in sin until the day Christ returns. Adam and Eve, who walked with God, who knew Him in more intimate ways than we could ever imagine, committed sin against Him that affected all mankind. King David, who was a "man after God's own heart" lusted for another woman, committed adultery, and murder. My friends, we are not alone in our struggle against sin. In many ways this brings me comfort, to know that I am not alone in my struggles and yet that does not give us the excuse to continue to live in sin.

So, here we are, looking at two great examples of humans committing a sin against God and we're still left with the question, how. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. My friends, from day one, we are sinful and nothing we can say or do will remove that sin from us. Only Christ can cover our sins, only Christ can bring us redemption and new life. God is the only one who can search our hearts and tests our minds. Only God can judge us and only He can give a just reward according to our deeds. In Proverbs 16:1-2 it tells us that we, as humans, think our ways our pure, but the Lord, who is Holy and Just, is the only one who can judge us. Because of our sinful nature, we think ourselves purer than we actually are and because of that we cannot always clearly see or understand the weight of our sins. Psalm 36:1-4 reveals to us how we see our sin, I love this line from the message version, "He has smooth-talked himself into believing that his evil will never be noticed."

How many times have you talked yourself into thinking that the sin you are committing will never be noticed?? My friends, I do that quite a lot, and here's the thing, God sees everything. While we may be able to hide our sins from the world, we can never hide from the Lord. Do you believe that all your ways are clean? have you allowed God to examine your heart? Take time today, to pray that the Lord would reveal to you areas in your life that are not pleasing to Him. It is our nature to think of ourselves as good people. However, if we think we are good, then we don't have to look at or acknowledge God and the sinful ways of our lives. We all suffer from the sin of pride.

Provbers 16:5 tells us that the Lord detests a proud heart. Our pride keeps us from acknowledging our sins and turning toward God. The apostle Paul (who was formally known as Saul) is a good example of what humility looks like in regard to our sinful nature. Paul was a member of the elite Jewish scholars, which means he knew the Old Testaments Law and followed its commands better than most. Many would have considered him very righteous, yet in his blindness of his religiosity, he was a violent aggressor against Christians and responsible for many of their deaths. James 2:10 tells us that whoever stumbles at keeping just one law, is guilty of breaking them all. My friends, do you understand what that means? We are all guilty. Only Christ was blameless and pure.

Before Paul knew Christ, he believed himself to be a good and righteous person. It wasn't until he came face to face with Christ that Paul was able to see his sin in light of God's holiness. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:4, "My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me." In this verse, Paul is acknowledging his lack of understanding and awareness of his sin, however, that does not mean he uses it as an excuse. My friends, because of our humanness, we can never fully understand the depths of our sins, however, that also doesn't mean we just get a free pass either. Romans 3: 23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We have all sinned and we all fall short, even those we believe to be "perfect Christians". Only Christ is blameless and pure.

When Christ comes again, all will be brought to light and He will expose the true motives of our hearts. For those of you who look forward to the return of Christ, it will be a sad day if we are not prepared to meet Him with a pure heart and humble spirit. A pure heart is one that has been cleansed by the Word of God. Those with pure hearts acknowledge that without God, they are truly nothing. We will be brokenhearted and will surely be grieved over the time we've spent holding onto our sinfulness rather than looking to the Savior and knowing Him intimately. The time we spend walking in sin is time we can never recover. It is forever wasted.

There is no time machine that can magically bring us back and allow us to change our mistakes. We only get one shot at life. While we know we can never reach God's level of holiness here on earth, we can live our lives following Christ to the best of our ability. We will stumble and we will mess up, however, that does not mean we use that as an excuse. Come to the Lord today. Confess your sins, repent (turn away from your sinful life), and follow Christ. While we will never recover our time spent here on earth, we are given hope and a promise for a better future with Christ, when He returns. The choice is yours, will you be prepared for when He comes back??

Lord, today I pray over those who are in need of your saving grace. From the time that we are born and until you come again, we will always walk in sin. You have shown us how to live a better life. You never promised it'd be easy but you did promise to be there with us. Lord, we thank you for the freedom we find in Christ. I pray we can stand firm in you and not fall victim to our sins anymore. I pray for redemption and restoration of lost souls. Amen.

* Much of what I had to say was pulled from Binding up the brokenhearted: Help for those suffering from post-abortion trauma. Healing Hearts Ministries International