Christian Blogs, Doctrinal Teachings
Of Youth, Sin and Aging
When I was seven; perhaps eight years old, I thought I had already exhausted the seventy times seven pardons that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 18. Of course, I know today that Jesus was speaking figuratively; not literally, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Still, when I was a boy, I was very much aware of whom Jesus was and what He had done for me. Well, kind of; sort of; not in the sense that I understood the riches and beauty of justification by faith alone and the right…eousness of Christ that covers me. Did I understand how God the Father could be both just and justifier? Did I comprehend the legal declaration of my atonement? No, let’s just say that mom made sure I was introduced to a Savior; a God-man who suffered and died on a hill far, far away. She played ‘The Old Rugged Cross,’ often on the violin. As for my biological father? He made sure I knew there was substantial sin and evil in a man by personally demonstrating it, and behind that, a devil.
What I didn’t anticipate was the magnitude and nature of my eventual and accumulated sins; which, as I committed by falling short time and again to the same worldly lusts and enticements, I began to question. How could this be? How could I think that I’m a Godly man, when I have so few victories to show? It is at this point I find myself again at seven years; believing the number had to be fixed. Oh, yes, for my age, I did allow Jesus’ count to increase from 7 x 70 to 700 x 7000, but I’ve exceeded even that!
I know I’m not the only one who has experienced this, or if you have not, you will if you are in Christ’s bosom and to be carried there, home. How do I know? What besets us is not uncommon to man. We were born into a sinful and fallen world; a world that God knew that man would never completely stop falling short; not before their day of death. What is the true grace of God that saves us? It is knowing what I said in paragraph two above; about our justification and Christ’s righteousness. That God took this to our hearts, souls, minds and sealed it there with His Spirit. And with that, I stand before Him with clean hands, and now folded, I thank Him for Christ also being my wisdom, sanctification and glorification.
Finally, let me say that unbelief manifests itself in two ways: (1) we deny the existence of God and His Son, Jesus; or (2) we deny that the blood of Christ shed was sufficient to cover all our sins. God help us in our unbelief.
