Monday, December 29, 2008
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My wife, like many women, is like "wonder woman" when it comes to rescuing clothes that seem to be ruined by a big stain. Like our sons' high school football uniforms. Hey, our colors were blue and white. Did I say white? The idea was to have those white pants as dirty as possible at the end of the game to prove that you played hard. But the idea also was to have those pants really white at the beginning of the game. So, home they came with these pants that seemed terminally stained with dirt and mud and grass stains. Now the only way my very intelligent wife would let them play football was if they agreed to wash their own uniforms - smart lady. But she showed them how to get those stains out with her magic combination of regular detergent and dishwasher detergent. Now, no matter how dirty those things had been, they came out clean. And yes, the stains were all gone.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Stain Is Gone."
You know, God is in the stain-removing business. And someone listening today needs to take advantage of this restoring miracle that only God can do.
Here's the word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:1. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." That is awesome good news. Imagine, no matter what you've done, no matter how far you've fallen, no matter how dirty you've gotten, if you belong to Jesus, you are clean - the stain is gone! No matter what your feelings tell you. No matter what people say about you. No matter what the devil tries to tell you. "No condemnation" is no condemnation! The stain is gone.
If you have been to the cross of Jesus to get your sins forgiven, are you living like there's "no condemnation" on you? Not if you're taking your cue from the people who know what you were; who remember all that junk in your past. You won't believe you're "un-condemned" if you believe the feelings you have sometimes - feelings of shame and unworthiness because of the stuff you've done in the past. One of the devil's favorite strategies for bringing us down is the cycle of shame to make you feel ashamed for where you've failed so you'll give up and do more things you'll feel ashamed for.
You may even be tripped up on this by judgmental Christians who seem to specialize in making other believers feel like failures, or by flashbacks of the old you. You'll pick up that old backpack full of your past, the one you left at the cross of Jesus, and you'll start carrying it again all bent over like you used to be.
If you define who you are by your past, you'll always be "The Sinner." If you define who you are by the pain you've been through, you'll always be "The Victim." But if you decide to define who you are by your relationship with Jesus Christ, you will be "The Forgiven" and you will keep pursuing the new you instead of reverting to the old you. What a holy God has forgiven, no one has a right to hold against you including you. He says you're clean, so you're clean. Now start living like it!
And if you've never given yourself to Jesus to be your personal Savior from your personal sin, you could do that this very day. And you could experience the spiritual shower that only the man who died for you can give you. You may have awakened again this day guilty and dirty, but you can go to sleep tonight clean!
If you want to begin your relationship with Jesus; you want to experience His forgiving for yourself, would you tell Him that right now, "Jesus, I believe you died for my sins. I am yours." And then I hope you'll visit our website. It's YoursForLife.net because you'll see there an easy description of the path to beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ to be sure you've been forgiven by Him. That's YoursForLife.net. Or I'll be glad to send you my booklet called Yours For Life. It's free. Just call our number. It's a toll free number 877-741-1200.
It doesn't matter how dirty you've gotten. It doesn't matter how deep the stain is. When Jesus makes you clean, you are really clean, and the stain is gone.