What Do I Do After I Sin?

Thank You Jesus; You Paid The Price For Me!

Great article, but I have a question: so what do I do after I sin? How would I pray? How would I settle it?

Good question. First off, we need to understand what sin really is.

Anything not of faith is sin. (Romans 14:23) We sometimes get it in our heads that there are little sins, and big sins, and in between sins.

For example: Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

* In essence getting angry with someone and saying a bad word to someone is the same as committing murder in God's eyes.

Another example of sin is Matthew 5:27-30 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

* So, we don't see too many people cutting off their right hands or plucking out their right eyes today (nor their left eye or hand either).

* Additionally, Jesus commands us not to worry in Matthew 6:25-34.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

* So, if Jesus tells us NOT to worry, and we worry, it's important to understand that worry is sin...

Once a person understands what sin really is, this brings a person to the end of themselves, of being able to make themselves righteous in the sight of God.

So, if you understand that you need Jesus and his righteousness, and his free offer of grace, a person comes to understand that God did it for us and forgave us of all our sins. Forgave is a past tense of forgive. This is the key. If a person understands that his or her sins have been forgiven, then there really is only one thing we can do, and it is to accept the forgiveness found in Jesus and say, "thank you." How much sense does it make, to keep asking for something that I already have?

Colossians 2:13-14 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

The debt has been settled.

This is only one side of the good news story of the gospel message. The other side of the coin is, once a person believes that Jesus did it all for them and receives (accepts it), then Jesus wants to give a person eternal life. When a person receives Jesus, and the forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ, Jesus comes to live within that person. Nothing can separate a person from Jesus once they come to him by faith. Not even a person's own sins that he or she commits in the future prevent separation from God.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here is an excellent link overview of Christ's FINISHED Work on the Cross.

Be sure to download and listen to the audios at BobGeorge.net - Bob George Ministries.
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Also, take a look at this article about understanding the "Lord's Prayer" after the cross.

In Jesus's name,

Jim W.

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