My Understanding Lord, sometime the Devil torments me with the question “Are you really a Christian?” To me a Christian is anyone who has the Spirit of God living in him or her because they turned their lives over to You. If I have a sincere trust in You for my salvation and acknowledge You as my Lord, then the Holy Spirit enters my life as a part of the rebirth process. I won’t know the Spirit has come into my life by a discernable feeling that I get. I will know it because You said it would happen. The role of the Holy Spirit is to help me begin acting more like You. He directs me to right actions, helps me solve my daily problems, teaches me how to pray, and empowers me for service to You and man. The Holy Spirit is my confirmation of eternal life if I believe in You as my Savior. My problem comes when I am drawn into sin by the weakness of my flesh. In You, I must regard the power of sin as dead by resisting it in Your power.
When I trust in You, I accept an exchange of the punishment due for sins for Your righteousness. My sins are put on You in the crucifixion and Your righteousness covers my sins. In the world, bartering works only when two individuals exchange items of relatively equal value. Thanks be to God … You give something of immeasurable value (Yourself) for something completely worthless (my sins). I am truly grateful for this kindness to me. In the process of new birth, I am not being made perfect, just more complete, and holy. While my sins cause separation from You, belonging to You has many benefits … access to the Father, growth in faith … overcoming doubt and worry … encouragement and hope … freedom from the power of sin … and eternal life. I must never forget that there is no other acceptable sacrifice for my sins than Your death on the cross for me.
Judgement has been reserved for those who reject God’s mercy. In the book of Matthew, You declare “And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven of men, but the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” These words were provoked by the Pharisees attributing Your miracles to Satan. The unpardonable sin is the deliberate refusal to acknowledge God’s power in You. It indicates a deliberate and irreversible hardness of the heart. I sometimes wonder if I have rejected You by giving in to sin … because it involves putting my will above Yours. However, I realize that unless I turn my back on You and reject the role of faith to draw me closer to You I am not committing the unpardonable sin. The real horror of sin is to not repent and ask for forgiveness. Help me resist sin, confess it when I do, and purpose in my heart not to sin again. And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!!
Psalm 32:5 I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord” and He forgave the guilt of my sin.