I am not who I used to be, and I will never be that man again.
Age robs us of the power of our flesh, of this there is no escape, the wicked fear it, detest it, hate it, those who have been born-again understand it for what it is, the Lord preparing us to go home.
“Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.” (Psalm 71:9)
But in a way far more glorious, I am not who I used to be, and I will never be that man again.
“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” (Luke 7:47)
It is always saddening to me when I meet someone who professes to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and in fact may be one of my brothers and sisters in Christ, who, when I have to opportunity to offer my testimony to them, reveal who I was before the Lord called me to Himself, stand with mouths agape, silent, stepping away from me a pace or two, and then leave my presence.
I was an evil, hardened, self-centered man who gave no thought to the pain and suffering I inflicted upon others, both man and beast. I was not a nice person.
It is a sad truth that those who call themselves Christians are many times the ones who are least forgiving to their own.
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1st Cor. 6:11)
Over the decades since I have been hid in Christ I have sinned greater than any time before, for I did so in the full knowledge of who it is that saved me. Therefore, I dishonored His Holy name above those times when I did not know Him as I know Him today.
This also is unacceptable in the eyes of the congregation that professes to serve the Almighty, there is little desire amongst most of them to seek after that lost sheep, to go and find the one who has gone astray. It can be likened to in a sense to the supposed recent pandemic, when those in the assembly professed the assembling of themselves together was of the utmost importance, yet when the fear arrived, and that self-inflicted, they ran and hid from each other.
It is as if those past sins may rub off on them, that a current sin one of their members is experiencing may cling to them as well.
My friends, expect these we speak of here to be living, if not in unconfessed sins, then in a form of pride that places within themselves a false knowledge of being more worthy of the grace and mercy of the Lord, because they were never that bad, that uncaring, that evil, and they would never even consider sinning against the Lord.
Hypocrites, or perhaps only one step away from becoming one.
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3)
He did no evil, yet they say He served Satan. There was no guile in His mouth, yet they called His words sinful, against the Living God. He healed their bodies, but they rejected the healing of their souls.
One of you reading this short letter understands fully the truths within it, else the Holy Spirit would not have had me write it. Do not be discouraged when they expect you, every single time, to give your testimony in tears and ashes, expect them to shy away from you, to never fully accept you. Some of us were not nice people at all, in fact, we enjoyed our season of sin.
They will never understand this, but feel for them, for they may never know what it means for you to know that you will never be the person you once were ever again.
Wonderous joy beyond words. Praise His Holy Name.
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (1st Tim. 1:15)
