Digging Up Bones

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.  And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Colossions 2: 12-14 NKJV

It's a vicious cycle indeed, despite our best efforts we never seem to be able to keep our sin at bay.  We promise ourselves we'll do better, yet time and again we end up coming to God for forgivness.  We continue to dig up our past indiscretions, all the while feeling like there is something seriously wrong with us.  Well, the truth is that this is one of the biggest hoaxes in history.  Satan loves to point his finger of blame at Gods children, and he does it very well!  Seriously, he's had MANY years of practice at his craft.
What if I were to tell you that you're not the wretched sinner you've been trying for years to convince yourself that you were?  How much freedom would  this give you?  Instead of living a life of condemnation, you could rejoice in your life with Jesus who lives within you.  That weight of sin is a heavy one, and very few can endure it.  I believe this is why our Lord provided for us his perfect plan.  I'm guessing he didn't want his children living under such conditions, and for good reason.  I've heard many a Sunday sermon where condemnation was the message of the day.  We needed to CHANGE our ways in order to abide in Gods grace.  Whoa, change our ways?  Yes, it seems, that as sinners we need to continually seek our Lords forgiveness for our dirty deeds.  However, what if we never needed to change at all?
In Colossions 2: 12-14 we see Paul making the point that, instead of being sinners, that we are instead dead to our sins and alive with Jesus.  Those sins and discretions that we fought so hard to avoid to no avail, they were nailed to that cross with our Lord!  GASP!  Wait, Mr. Pastor, you told me that I was a sinner needing Gods forgiveness.  True, we WERE in need of our Lords forgiveness, and he's done just that for us already.  He loved us so much that he sent his son to die and nail our sins to that cross once and for all.  So, if our sins have been nailed to that cross, why do we continue to struggle to avoid them?  Like I said, one of the biggest hoaxes in history!  Instead of worrying about our sin struggle, we should be thanking our Lord that he's already provided for our forgiveness.  Let the dogs dig up their bones, we don't need to keep resurrecting our past.

~Scott~