BEING RECONCILED

Today's Read: 2 Corinthians

I have to admit, I am a believer who struggles with accepting the Grace that the Lord has offered me. I struggle with being deceived by the lies the evil one desires to burden my heart with. The Father of lies tells me that I cannot be redeemed fully, that I am too marred by my own sin to be fully accepted by God and blessed by him. Believing these lies leaves me feeling discouraged, burdened and sorrowful. This is something that I struggle with cyclically and continually need to combat with the truth of the scriptures if I want to be able to rise above the lie that I am unredeemable.

I have read in 2 Corinthians 7 before that 'Godly sorrow brings repentance' (v. 10), repentance that leads to LIFE. Even though I have read this particular passage many times, I seemed to have skimmed over verse 9. It is here that the bible tells me that "you became sorrowful as God intended". Reading this has brought me so much comfort and peace because it reminds me that my sorrow (over sins of rebellion and the shame that accompany them) is not a superfluous side effect of my human state. It is purposefully brought to surface in my heart as a direct component of God's continued progressive sanctification of my spirit. He has intentionally planned for this sorrow, because it is a step in the process that brings me ever closer to him and refines me to have a heart more like his. Malachi 3:2-3 says that he will refine me as silver, which is a process that requires painstaking effort before a furnace to cleanse all impurities. Sounds painful, because it is! This refining process is not easy or fun; it's not for the faint at heart. But it is so beautiful, because it brings me closer to Him. I believe the burden of sorrow that I'm bearing is a direct result of his calling me to come closer.

So, I am choosing to cling to the hope that He is using this as a tool to reconcile me to him, that is, to bring me home to live with him as he intended since the dawn of creation. 2 Corinthians 5 tells me that I am a new creation, who has been reconciled and that I no longer bear the burden of my sin. How can I deny what the word of God says about me and choose to cling to the lies of the devil that I am forever stuck in the filth of my own sin? I cannot.

Oh Lord, thank you for your faithfulness to work on me and in me, even though it is painful. It is heartbreaking to continually be made more and more aware of my own depravity. It burdens my heart to see clearly just how broken I am. But I praise your name, your mercy and your faithfulness that you accept me as I am, but you don't let me just stay as I am. Thank you for refining me and for giving me the grace to grow in strength from the process, despite the hurt that is within my heart over it.

Isaiah 43: 25 "I, even I, am he who blots our your transgressions, for my own sake and remembers your sins no more."