Strictly speaking spiritual renewal doesn’t follow any strict formula. It’s a work of God’s grace and, as such, is entirely dependent upon Him. Still, if we are willing to recognize our need for spiritual renewal, then we can take conscious steps in that direction. God, as it happens, loves to move in the lives of people who are earnestly seeking Him.
Refusing to forgive is like taking poison in the hope that it kills somebody else. I’m not sure who first said that, but if you think about it, it’s true. Philemon is about forgiveness.
Dan Petersen, in town from Glasgow, Scotland, brings this to us today. Jesus is not sanctimonious. He mixes with sinners. The irony is that those who view themselves righteous find themselves distant from God.
1 John 4:9-10 (NKJV) 9In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
All of us know what it’s like to feel guilt, some of it unwarranted, some of it genuine. As to the false guilt, it’s, well, false. We never really had to worry about that at all. In the case of false guilt, that sense of feeling guilty was always a lie.
The beautiful thing that God has done for us, by the offering of Christ for our sins, is that He has removed our real guilt. When we, in our hearts, reject our sin, turn to Him and ask for His forgiveness, He cleanses us. He declares us not guilty in His eyes.
Christ is the offering that removes our guilt. He is the propitiation for our sins – the offering that reconciles us to God. If God views us as not guilty, then we truly are not guilty; no higher standard is needed. There is no higher court that we will ever be tried in. So Christ takes care of our all-too-real guilt. And that is the kind of Savior we truly need.
Central Reflections 