No Shame In Our Game!

"Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character hope. And hope does put us to shame, because Gods' love has been poured out into our hearts through Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." (Romans 5:1-5 NIV)

How are we justified and don't have to be ashamed? Our faith in the work on cross brings us into a place of redemption and relationship with Christ when we believe and accept His death was for our benefit. Since He hung on the cross, after being beaten for the sins of the world, we are forgiven and have no need to be ashamed of our past lives--before knowing Him--and have every reason to have hope in our present lives and for our future--as long as we don't turn back to those things that kept us out of relationship with God.

Whenever I get a chance to witness to people--wherever that might be--I make a distinction in my life's timeline--my time earth on earth. I had my BC time--before knowing Christ and how He expects me to live and my AC time--after knowing and understanding the work on the cross and receiving His love. I know without a doubt in my heart that if I had been the only person on the planet, He would have died for me and understanding that kind of love, fills me with desire to please Him, not people. Receiving His love and repenting from all that I had done, puts me in a position to live as if I had never sinned. How do I know? Because He tosses our sins into the sea of forgetfulness. If He's not going to remind us of where we were, we shouldn't allow anyone else to bring up past mistakes, either.

Now, in my AC time--I am yet being perfected--I have not arrived at perfection, but I'm allowing Holy Spirit to correct me daily. And this is the difference between those who know God and are in relationship with Him and those who know about God and keep doing the same "irreverent things" day after day. I know in my heart that if people really know God and have developed a relationship with Him, there are things they would no longer desire to do, since God's love--filled to overflowing ignites desires in us to love and please Him.

When we know who we are in Him and know what we have in Him--eternal life--we have no need to be ashamed and we can walk with our heads held high, not concerned with those who want to put our lives under a microscope to see what ugliness they can discover. They may discover our ugliness--that ugliness that existed in our BC time, but in our AC time--it means absolutely nothing. However, if they have never accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, their ugliness--no matter how perfect they think they are--remains for all to see because it has never been tossed into the sea of forgetfulness.

We cannot allow people--especially those who have never known our Savior--to keep us bondage to our pasts. They have no right to do so and we have no reason to be ashamed of who we have become in Christ Jesus. So, whenever anyone tries to make us ashamed of our pasts--we can look them straight in the face, holding their eyes fastened with faith in Him and declare--"There's no shame in my game since I am still under construction!"

A question arises for them to consider: "What's your excuse?"