The Graveyard Of Sins

8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2: 8-9 NKJV

I took some flack this week for a mass message which was sent out.  It's funny, there were those friends who assumed that just because I had been involved in questionable behavior in the past that this was just more of the same.  I get it.  Guilty until proven innocent is the order of the day at times...just ask Brett Kavanaugh.  The embattled judge endured a slew of accusations before ascending to the nations highest court.  Still, there are others who assume that he is not worthy of his position.  Still, there are those in my circle who asume that I still hold to my former behaviors.  The graveyard of past sins is overflowing with many bad choices.  So, I thought this week, what would happen if God treated others as we do?  Well, if He did I would assure you that many of us would be up in arms over it!  How can you treat me like that, God?  All too many times we fail to notice that it is by the love and grace of our heavenly Father that we no longer carry the stains of those sins of our yesterdays.  No, we are now free and clean of those acts of that man we once were.  I have talked with more than my share of addicts in recovery who have shared with me that freedom they feel when the chains of addiction are broken.  This is the very same freedom which we have through Christ Jesus.  It is Jesus who took our sins upon Himself at the cross that we would no longer carry that burden {2 Corinthians 5:21}.  In fact, I would argue that should we ask God to forgive our sins that He would simply say...what sins?  One of the conflicts I have with the institutional church is the suggestion that we continually seek Gods forgiveness for our own behaviors.  Well, doesn't that invalidate the work of Jesus on the cross?  Did He only die for a part of our sins?  How soon we forget.

6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be adone away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.7For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6 - 11 NKJV

If there is one thing I know, it's that graveyards are a permanent resting place.  Save for one, there has NEVER been anyone who walked out of a grave after dying.  He who defeated death took away the fear and consequences that we ourselves should no longer fear that part of our lives {Romans 6:9}.  So it is with that graveyard of sins, it is through Christ that we are no longer slaves to our former sins {Romans 6:6}.  Yet, as I found out this week, there are those who continue to hold us to that former standard.  I'm quite sure that these would be the very same people who would cite every scripture they could think of on forgiveness should that shoe be on the other foot.  However, I know just who we are in Christ despite what others might have me believe.  The identity we now have is in He who lives through us {Galations 2:20}.  It's not as if I walk around each day thinking of the life I've left behind, it's not for me to dwell on any longer.  In Gods eyes, that Scott no longer exists.  Yet in the eyes of some people, it still defines me.  Tell me how that works.  I'll go with how God sees me.
I recall the story of a man who spent half of his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit.  Cleared by dna evidence years later, he was suddenly faced with something he never thought he would experience...his own freedom.  In a lot of ways, many of us continue to hold fast to that which has died.  I am no longer associated with that man I once was, even if a few of my friends refuse to believe it.

16Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5: 16 - 17 NKJV

~Scott~