I want to give all who visit this blog and who are reading the Thin Within book by Arthur and Judy Halliday time to soak in chapter 19 if you are studying with us. Truly, forgiveness has been the hub of my journey–the driving force around which my life has been turning and being transformed. I don’t want to gloss over the significance of this for others–for you. It is deep and penetrating.
So, if you are anything like me, I believe forgiveness is at the root of what can transform you, too.
I believe that many of us are caught in cycles of sin-repent-sin-repent because of shame. We think we will never change. We believe that our capacity to sin is, in effect, more powerful than God’s capacity to change us. We then lose hope. Without hope, we remain stuck! Somehow, we have to get out of that place so that we believe God. He says he is transforming us. My choices don’t somehow tie God’s hands. He is in the business of transforming lives. So confessing my sin to God, receiving His forgiveness, confessing that I know He forgives me and then forgiving myself is vital. I couldn’t overstate this. PLEASE don’t blow this off!
Yes, he wants my cooperation. But he can work even a willingness into me. So, rather than speaking about this chapter right now in detail, I just want to tell you…if you really want to have this time be different for you, if you want to break free forever from the junk that keeps you binging, purging, overeating, compromising, hating yourself…(if you can relate to this at all), you have to have to have to (please!!!) work through chapter 19, pray through it, journal through it, whatever it takes to honestly do it. Forgiveness is vital to your next steps forward. I really believe it.
So, what do you believe? Which is more powerful: your sin? Or God’s ability to overcome your sin?
Please take time to prayerfully ask God to show you if you are willing to allow Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross be sufficient for you so that you might forgive yourself. Let the shame go. Whether it is the shame from one of the “Significant Times” experiences in chapter 16 or shame from 10 minutes ago (yelling at your kids, resenting a lady at church, or plowing through a bag of Oreos)…God IS doing a new thing in you right now. You have never been where you are right this moment. Take this moment captive for him (remember the marble jar!) and let Him wash you with the grace of His forgiveness. Believe Him. Let the shame go…as far as the east is from the west…
