A Wife's Understanding of Sin
One of the things that struck me once again was how simple God's plan of salvation is for us. He has already done the work, all we need to do is put our trust in Him. It is so easy...a simple prayer, a simple faith.
We have all sinned and because God is holy, He has to punish sin. We deserve death, but Jesus took our punishment on the cross instead. Now, anyone can be forgiven of their sins and made right. If you "...confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." Romans 10:9
We cannot be "kind enough or good enough to merit God's gift of salvation...God does all the work of man's salvation. Salvation is by His grace, not based on any merit (however "kind") within man. God's provision for sin begins at the cross and continues with 'grace to help' us grow and mature as Christians (Hebrews 4:16)"
If Jesus is not the Lord of your life, you can, right now, confess your sins and ask for God's forgiveness and confess that Jesus is Lord of your life. Confess with your mouth, believe in your heart...it's that simple.
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The other thing I took from the chapter is that the "repentance process is not complete until you replace it with a godly, righteous thought. Then you will have 'put off' a self-honoring thought and will have 'put on' a God-honoring thought. It is a process that takes work. How hard you work at putting on the right thoughts and actions will directly affect how much like the Lord Jesus Christ you become in this life."
The marriage-related examples that were given made it very clear how this process works. Just to give you an example, the first one is:
Wrong, sinful Thought- "I hate him!"
Right, godly, Thought- "I don't feel love for him right now, but I choose to love him by responding in a kind way."
In changing our thoughts, we become more Christ-like, we glorify God and we have happier, more fulfilled marriages.
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The point you reiterate here about repentance not being complete until we've replaced the sinful thought with the righteous one is so important. After reading that chapter, I started wondering why this principle isn't taught in our churches. Well, I should say not any church I've ever been a member of...
ReplyDeleteI think if we repent at the very moment we have the 'ill' thought our heart can change and the words that come out of our mouth will change too, if we put our pride away.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your Post it is very insightful. Linda
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa! Nice to 'meet' you. : )
ReplyDeleteI was so excited when I found your blog (via your comment) because The Excellent Wife is a book I have really wanted to read!! I'm terrible about finding time to read, though.
I look forward to hearing all about the book on your blog!
Your girls are precious. I got my daughter's bedding at Pottery Barn Kids...and I'm pretty sure they don't make that quilt anymore?
: ) Laura