Day 2351 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Matthew 3:8 NIV

God's gift of salvation isn't meant to give us the right to do whatever we want knowing that He will forgive us for messing up. His gift of salvation is meant to pull us off of that path of sinful and selfish living and help us learn to actually live right in His eyes. We get that backwards a lot. It's easy to see His mercy as a ticket to follow our free will without having to worry about the consequences of the wrong choices we make in doing so. I know I've fallen into that line of thinking. We all have. But we have to understand that Christ didn't die so that we could keep on sinning. That just doesn't make any sense whatsoever!

He died to set us free from the punishment that our sins deserve. He took our consequences upon Himself and gave us His hard-earned rebirth in exchange. We have been given the new start that all of us seriously need. Our pasts look like a battlefield. Laden with holes and scars from all the sinful choices we've made. Completely riddled with damage from living life our way to suit our own interests and desires. There's nothing we can ever do to fix all the mistakes that we've made. There's just too many and they're too messed up. And He knows that. Again, that's why Christ came to take our place and do what we couldn't.

As we've talked about fairly recently, the cross is our reminder that our past choices carried death along with them. All of our sins deserve what Christ endured on that day. Our sins deserve eternal suffering because they're proof that we've rejected God and ignored His calling to live according to His will for us. But the cross is also our reminder that we've been given the opportunity to avoid that suffering because of God's amazing grace. We have the chance repent of the horrible sins that we've committed against our Father and to live a better, more upright, and more productive way of life for the rest of our stay here.

But we have to understand that repentance isn't a one and done kind of thing. We don't just say sorry for the way we've lived and then go on about our lives. We can't just toss up a prayer saying my bad and then forget all about it. Repentance is a constant part of our lives as Christians. Yes, we've been saved when we asked Christ into our lives. Yes, our sins are forgiven and covered by the gift of the cross. But that doesn't mean we're all of the sudden these perfect little angels that get everything right. We still say things we shouldn't. We still make the wrong choices. We still mess up. We still sin.

So we can't afford to see repentance as a one time deal. It has to be a part of our daily walk with Christ because we will always have something to confess and improve. We have to continue evaluating our actions, thoughts, and words every single day because we all have plenty of room to grow. But we won't notice that if we don't look. And if we don't notice it then we won't try. And if we don't try then we won't improve. And that my friends just isn't good enough. Christ died for us. The least we could do is fight every single day to do better than the day before. And the only way to do that is to admit what we get wrong and work to get it right.

We have to let go of the watered-down, comfortable, and convenient ways of thinking that we've learned from the world around us. Anyone who truly wants to live a life of faith and to walk with Christ "must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." No more putting ourselves first. No more living to serve our desires. No more letting ourselves get by with messing up. No more sweeping our sins under the rug so we don't have to deal with them. No more avoiding the hard part of our faith while we enjoy the amazing gifts that it provides. It may not be fun to seek out our weaknesses, flaws, and mistakes, but that's the only way to learn what we need to work on.

There will not be a day when we get everything right. So our focus needs to be on what this verse is telling us to do. To try harder today than we did yesterday. To strive to live better lives every day that we're given. To continue to live in repentance of our sins and to fight to not let those sins become habits that continually pull us in the wrong direction. It's a daily battle my friends, and as uncomfortable and humbling as it may be, it's one that we can't afford to take lightly!

#LeaveNoSoulUntold