You are the Worst of Sinners

Does that offend you? It shouldn't. The only reason you or I think of ourselves as anything but the worst sinner is our continual practice of setting our sights on others as a means of lessening our guilt. Is there really a difference between, let's say, a murderer and someone who murders others every single day in his heart? Between an adulterer and someone consumed by lust? How about a liar and a gossip? Surely those of us who know the Gospel understand that there is really no grading on the curve for our sin, that we all stand guilty before a holy, righteous God. So let's put aside, for a moment, the notion that we are less evil than that person sitting next to us on Sunday morning...or perhaps that person awaiting trial down at the local jail. And if we finally are being true with ourselves and God about our sin we may begin to deal with the crippler of souls...persistent guilt. Does he ever sideline you? Do you have a sin or perhaps a timeline of sin that dominates your thinking and leaves you feeling "less than" before God? If so, it will cripple you until you deal with it. Does it interfere with your prayer? Your worship? Your fellowship? You see, when we allow our minds to dwell on our sin in an unhealthy manner we let the enemy (the accuser) put us in a stronghold and make us totally ineffective. I'm reading a book by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington called "The Bookends of the Christian Life", and yes you should read it. One chapter deals with our persistent guilt and what to do about it. Quoting from an old Puritan writer (I've come to discover that many of the Puritan writers were not legalist prudes but had a good handle on Grace) named Thomas Wilcox, the writers help us deal with our persistent guilt. Wilcox mentions things like; shift your focus from your sin to Christ the Mediator, on Christ crucified, risen, and ascended...etc. But the one that really got me this morning in my devotion time was "Shift your focus from your sin to the Glory of God". You see, even when we fall to the temptation that says God doesn't like us or care enough about us to let us off the hook, we MUST see that God also pardons sin for the Glory of His own Name's sake....Isaiah 43:25.. God is glorified by forgiving sin, by pardoning the sinner, "because in pardoning us he'll make us living monuments of the glory of the grace He purchased. It is Christ's own happiness to pardon"
Yes, it's true! My sin can be an occasion for God to display His own Glory and exalt Christ's sacrifice. As Paul asked in Romans 6..should I then go on sinning? By no means! But neither will I allow the memory of past sin to cripple me. I look back at even the worst of my sin and rejoice with John Newton who said "Two things I know; I am a great sinner and Christ is a Great Savior". And like a friend of mine said once to me, "You can enjoy condemning me as a worst sinner than you if it makes you feel more righteous, because I may have done a few things you haven't, but God is glorified in forgiving me and I choose to believe His Word about who I am" AMEN brother :)
He delights in forgiving you. It is His glory to pardon. btw; your self-contempt is merely and expression of self-centerdness. Be Christ-centered today.