Guilt and the Blood

I get it. I completely understand. There is a specific sin that has troubled you. An issue in your life that has repeatedly reared its ugly head, and caused you to stumble. Maybe it's a number of these issues, maybe it's just one. Guilt has set in and now you are crippled with remorse, sadness, and regret.

Here's what you need to know: You are forgiven. How do I know, because Christ has made it so. 1 Peter 1:18-19 is poignant in this fact. The blood from a sinless Lamb was given to cover you. But just so you are aware, the Blood is not for you.

The righteousness of God is what demands that we be right in order to stand before God. Being we cannot be "right" on our own, Christ died in order to shed his blood, so it could be applied to you and I upon our conversion. Now that we are covered in the sinless blood of Christ, we are put into "right"ness, allowing God to commune with us. You see the Blood is not for us, rather it is to satisfy God. 

But because of our repeated sin, we feel that the blood is of little value in comparison to the sins we commit, so we guilt our way into feeling as though the Blood of Christ is not valuable enough to be used in the redemption process of our souls. However, we, on this side of Glory, are unable to place a true value on the Blood of Christ. If the Blood of Christ is for God first, then we must accept the value that God places on it. It is a matter of faith in the Word of God. The reason the blood is of utmost value is simple because God says it is of utmost value. Case Closed.

If God says that Blood is valuable enough to cover our sins in order to stand in righteousness along side him, the the Blood is that valuable. If God says the Blood is valuable enough to be the redemption of mankind, then the Blood is that valuable. By holding onto guilt, you are in essence devaluing the blood based on feelings. Instead, look to God knowing that he as put you in right standing through the Blood of Christ.

Jesus is not First

Often I hear people talk about how they but God first. They put him first in:

• Giving
• Prayer
• Finances
• Effort
• Blah
• Blah

The problem is, Christ becomes like a task on a to do list. As soon as you "check" him off, it allows you to move on to the next item on your list. Jesus becomes a check box in your daily routine. "Well I prayed first thing this morning... now I can move on from Jesus to the rest of my day." 

Instead of putting Christ first, we should put him right in the middle. It should look something like this...

This puts Christ right in the center of everything we do. When we make a "To-Do" for work, we look at it through the eyes of Christ. 

Paul puts it very clearly in Galatians 2:20 "no longer me, but Christ!" This is really the premise when we make the decision to put God right in the middle of everything. It becomes what is normal to be a Christian. Putting God first is awesome, putting God right in the middle, putting him in my heart, is what is the normal. 

By taking away the "me" in lifes situations, it allows Christ to reign, and what better of a place to reign than right in the middle of everything. Not just in my decisions, not just in my daily doings, not just in my relationships, rather in the middle of everything. This puts Jesus in the middle.