a tremendous realization...

let’s review the basics:

1) there is nothing that you can do that will ever make GOD love you more than HE does right now already. nothing.

2) there is nothing you can ever do that will ever make GOD love you any less than HE already does right now. you can’t make HIM love you less because HIS love is based on who HE is – a loving GOD.

every one of you – every one of us – have an area of habitual failure. that’s the sin you keep stumbling over. it’s that habit. it may be your temper. it may be your words. it may be lust. it may be impatience. a million different things. but it’s an area that you just keep stumbling over. so here’s what happens:

when you blow it and you fail in that area, you come to GOD and say, “GOD, i’m so sorry. please forgive me.” and GOD says, “of course I forgives you.” if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all sin. 1 john 1.9 (niv)

then the next day you go out and blow it again. you come back: “GOD, i did it again. i’m sorry. i need forgiveness. i need cleansing. and i need your power to change.” GOD says “ok.”

on the third day, you’re starting to get a little nervous. you’re coming back with the same sin. “i’m really sorry.” and GOD says, “i forgive you.” ten minutes later you do it again. now you’re really embarrassed. i hate to come back to GOD. you tend to even stop asking for forgiveness because it’s the same thing over and over. you think GOD’s sitting up in heaven saying, “the same ones? can’t you think of any new sins to do? you’ve got the same old sin over and over. how boring!” and you say, “how can i ask GOD to forgive me?

i keep falling and falling in this same area.” you sometimes even stop asking for forgiveness because you don’t think you’re ever going to change.

two things about that area of habitual sin:

1) GOD never gets tired of forgiving you. HE will forgive you fifteen hundred times a day if you were SPIRITually sensitive enough to ask. GOD does not get tired of forgiving you for the same sin over and over. it is GOD’s nature to be forgiving.

2) if you’re really serious about changing an area of habitual failure, here’s the key: you’ve got to find someone who will hold you accountable. you say, “anything but that! i don’t want to tell anybody about that.” that’s why you can’t change. the bible says, GOD gives grace to the humble. your pride is keeping you from changing. you can’t figure it out. if you could, you would have changed ten years ago and you haven’t. it’s still there. as long as you think, “me and JESUS. i’m going to figure it all out and i don’t need anybody to tell me what it’s all about,” you’re not going to change.

just a thought from the front porch…