"I'm Forgiven!"

"I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay Thee my vows, which my lips hath spoken, when I was in trouble." (Psalms 66:13-14) We might not have the capacity to forget the past, but that's not all that bad, as long as we remember where the past is, and we focus on the future. God on the other hand has whipped your past away; so if we are really talking about abundant life, I am pretty sure it requires our focus to be somewhere other than on the earth. As I was praying about this post, I felt God tugging on my heart about "when I was in trouble." Although it seems so long ago, it really is easy to recall "my vows" given from "my lips" that day. They were more than just words, because words could not come close to express the joy that was in my heart; it was like a huge weight had been lifted off of me, and for the very first time, joy was as easy to feel as taking a breath of air. I know I am not giving justice to the experience, but my vow to God was not really based upon my pledge to Him, but upon my acceptance of His pledge to me. There really is a very huge difference between pledges! Actually, if I was secure based upon anything that I might have pledged to God, then I am still lost in my sins, and I have no hope of eternity with Him, let alone have my sins taken away. But it's not! My vows involved that of acceptance! I accepted what God had done for me, and I received it with gladness; that was my vow, to rejoice and be thankful, forever more. Since that day, I have really never been in trouble; I may have had some ruff spots, or some wilderness times, but all my troubles have been removed! No matter what this world can do to me, or even what I might do to myself, I am secure in Christ! Just as secure as Noah was in the ark; the ark that God closed the door and sealed shut; the ark that God lifted up with the flood; and the ark that God carried through to a new beginning. God has made me His property, and I am no longer my own! Talk about a vow... "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God's grace, not from rules about food, which don't help those who follow them. We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle have no right to eat. Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make His people holy by means of His own blood. So let us go out to Him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace He bore. For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to His name. And don't forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God." (Hebrews 13:8-16) NLT