Walking in the Light

  You would desire joy and gladness in your life, am I right? I know I want a release from overwhelming guilt, shame and despair. Willfully sinning against God always brings about a weighing down of the mind, the spirit, and the body. Heartache, in loss of fellowship with God and departing from His ways, is a dark place to reside and its results will diminish our physical well-being while bringing our existence to a pre-mature end or making it increasingly filled with pain and disease (we will never be fully free of sin’s effects, but we can worsen and hasten its effects). God’s will always bring about the best results in the believer’s life. We are not to continue in sin that grace may abound (Romans 6:1-2)! We must keep short accounts with God of our sin, as we openly and readily seek to honor His grace and not presume upon it.

  Consider David’s confession of his sin in Psalm 51 as a model of complete and utter brokenness before a Holy God:
Came Humbly & Reverently - 1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Came Longingly & Expectantly - 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
Came Openly & Understandingly - 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, And done this evil in thy sight: That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, And be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Came Dependently & Pleadingly - 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, And blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; And take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with thy free spirit.

 As God’s children, we should be ever grateful for a loving Father’s discipline (keeping us from straying or drawing us back to Him from our times of wandering). So, the more quickly that we return to our gracious Father, the better (Hebrews 12:5-6, 10-11). Destructive lifestyles will be averted, and blessings will be enjoyed. The peace of Christ will rule in our hearts.