So what happens when despite your best intentions and devotion to the promise to never "do that", you find yourself on the outside of your own moral map?
We plan our lives to reflect what is in our hearts. We make promises to ourselves and stand firm in the cement that keeps us devoted to the person you want to be.
In the Bible, Peter the apostle rebuked the possibility that he could ever deny his best friend and savior, Jesus. Jesus said he would deny Him three times and like clockwork, he did. Jesus was murdered, then buried, and the apostles scattered and returned to their lives, Peter to fishing. Jesus returns and finds Peter back in the boat he sat in when they met and forgives him. Then He uses Peter to start the church.
That is what you do. You accept grace and forgiveness and move forward. There are lessons to be learned from everything in the Bible. The biggest lesson I learned from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is that looking back at sin is foolish and isn't well liked by God. When you are pulled from the fire, you should not strive to go back. So you move forward and forget, after you confess and rely on God to enrich your life with good things.
It is the guilt that keeps us looking back. Love drives out guilt. This is the beauty of Christ. The very name of Christ means Messiah/Savior. If we are still guilty, why is He called the Savior? We trust in Jesus as our hope for a really great eternity and the lifting of the burden of death from our hearts.
My goal in life was to be a picture of integrity. I have always desired to be honest and real and open. I try really hard at these things and fail often. Despite the pain failure causes, my conviction is to never look back at my failures. Again, I struggle with this too, but leaving bad things behind does give quite a liberation in your life.
I'm not going to write a blog about a new age, artsy, feel-good kind of positivity. My desire is that you and I would focus on the positive because that is exactly what God has given us. This is what God has called us to. We are not to give up. Instead, we can find His signature everywhere, just like an artist that leaves his signature on a painting. God has left His here. He has left His on you.
Sing.
Migrate.
Thanks for reading...Z
