IDEALISTIC OR FORGIVENESS!
It is easy for us to look at life through rose colored glasses. It is easy for me to tell you how it should be because I was able to do something’s right. It is easy to look at God’s word and say this is what God asks and this is what we should do. The preacher of my youth preached a sermon on sex and abstinence, every year. Most preachers, cover the ideal Christian walk but it always come down to God’s promise of forgiveness. WOW!

Being chaste is no easy task! One of the things God told Eve in the garden just before He asked Adam and Eve to leave, was that Eve would desire her husband. Of course it was in the context of having pain multiplied in childbirth. However, the inner workings of a woman is the desire that can come up by a smile, the touch of a hand, the smell of cologne and even by the attention that is paid to her. I am talking as a woman because even though I know how quick a man can respond to some of the same things, I am not a man therefore I cannot speak for them.

When we walk with Christ we know that sexual intercourse is wrong before marriage. We know, if we do not stop, we lose control and eat of the forbidden fruit. When that happens and it does, God has promised us forgiveness. Our God loves us so much that he has given us a lot of rope. You have heard; "Give him enough rope and he will hang himself!" In reality, we certainly can hang ourselves, but being unchaste by fornication and/or committing adultery is not the unforgivable sin. Praise God!

In my youth most things were kept hush, hush. If a girl became pregnant while still in school and unmarried, she would just be gone for a while. If a girl became pregnant and married, which were very few, she left school and sometimes would have a tutor so she could complete her education. But pregnancies were not allow in the public schools. There were many girls that were looked upon as being easy and you could readily recognize the boys that sought out these girls.

At my 50th high school reunion I saw that the easy girls could change. One in particular who Christ made a difference in. Praise the Lord for His promise of forgiveness! Being idealistic keeps us from looking inside ourselves and cleaning out the closets. Being filled with self righteousness keeps us from reaching our potential in Jesus Christ. We must examine ourselves and discover what path we want to follow and begin anew.

Today, we have learned to have compassion on these that find themselves in the family way. We need to help them not abuse them, because you can’t turn back the clock and make it not to have happened. Abortion is not the way out, because there is a life involved. A beautiful, new life regardless as to how it began.

Being forgiven gives us a new lease on life! Being forgiven tells us that God is not through with us yet! Being forgiven keeps us on the narrow path which goes through the narrow gate! Being forgiven helps us to realize that the ideal is the best way, but through God, perfection is always ahead of us. Remember; "pbpwmginfwmy"? It says; "Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet!" Hallelujah !

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". 1 John 1:9 "My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; He is the atonement for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."
1 John 2:1-2

Let’s take God’s offer and see how He can clean up our act! Let’s learn to walk in Christ and become the children of the Father. Our lives will be much happier and fulfilling! To be forgiven is what this is all about! Jane Ann