Increasing Our Guilt
Our sins make us all guilty before God, because all of us have sinned. When we sin, the Holy Spirit comes to convict us of our sins. This is God's way of drawing us to His gracious provision for our forgiveness. We can't rid ourselves of our guilt, but if we humble ourselves before the Lord, turning from our sins and turning to Him in faith, He removes our guilt. We are made right with God, and we are cleansed from sin's stain on our lives. However, many people will not listen to the Holy Spirit and humbly turn to the Lord. This was true for King Amon, the son of Hezekiah. Instead of repenting, Amon increased his guilt. (II Chronicles 33:22,23) That is the worst thing any of us can ever do.
Rejecting God is serious business with eternal consequences. When we sin, we get some pleasure from committing those sins. Also, we may convince ourselves that we know the best way to live, not God. We may feel like the best way to advance in life is to be like everyone else who is sinning and just do it better. Whatever we are thinking, if we reject the Holy Spirit, when He comes to show us the way to be reconciled to God, we begin to increase our guilt before God. We can't plead ignorance, because God has clearly shown us His will for us and His grace. Therefore, we increase our guilt by knowingly choosing to sin against our Loving, Holy God. This brings us more and more punishment from the Lord, which if we continue to resist Him, we end up separated from Him in Hell forever. I pray that if any of us are rejecting God today, we will stop and humble ourselves like King Manasseh did. God is waiting, and He will forgive and remove the guilt.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Chronicles 34-36 and Ezra 1.
Rejecting God is serious business with eternal consequences. When we sin, we get some pleasure from committing those sins. Also, we may convince ourselves that we know the best way to live, not God. We may feel like the best way to advance in life is to be like everyone else who is sinning and just do it better. Whatever we are thinking, if we reject the Holy Spirit, when He comes to show us the way to be reconciled to God, we begin to increase our guilt before God. We can't plead ignorance, because God has clearly shown us His will for us and His grace. Therefore, we increase our guilt by knowingly choosing to sin against our Loving, Holy God. This brings us more and more punishment from the Lord, which if we continue to resist Him, we end up separated from Him in Hell forever. I pray that if any of us are rejecting God today, we will stop and humble ourselves like King Manasseh did. God is waiting, and He will forgive and remove the guilt.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Chronicles 34-36 and Ezra 1.