“WE HAVE CONFIDENCE BEFORE GOD!”

 1 John 3:19-23                    (ESV)

“[19] By this (HOLY living) we shall know that we are of the TRUTH and reassure our heart before HIM; [20] for whenever our heart condemns us, GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR HEART, and HE KNOWS EVERYTHING. [21] Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, “WE HAVE CONFIDENCE BEFORE GOD”; [22] and WHATEVER WE ASK WE RECEIVE FROM HIM, because WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS and do what pleases HIM. [23] And this is HIS commandment, that we believe in the NAME OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST and LOVE ONE ANOTHER, just as HE has commanded us.”

IF our lives have been changed by the GRACE of GOD, we WILL NOT radiate the “sins of the flesh”, according to the Scripture above.  But the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:15 “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that CHRIST JESUS came into the world to SAVE SINNERS, OF WHOM I AM THE FOREMOST”!!!  

Why then do I continue to be a victim to sin and its effect on my life?  Once again, the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 6:14 that “For sin will have no dominion over you, since YOU ARE NOT UNDER LAW BUT UNDER GRACE!!The same person (Paul) writes in Romans 7:15 “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”  Then at the end of that chapter Paul writes in Romans 7:24-25 “Wretched man that I am! WHO will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to GOD through JESUS CHRIST our LORD! So then, I myself serve the law of GOD with my mind, but WITH MY FLESH I serve the law of sin.”

“WE HAVE CONFIDENCE BEFORE GOD” that we will be USED by GOD to Glorify HIM and HIS SON!  Will we do this by living ABOVE sin???  Obviously not, for I DO NOT UNDERSTAND MY OWN ACTIONS, as Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Rome!  But “WE HAVE CONFIDENCE BEFORE GOD” that HE will use my failures for HIS GLORY, as ONLY HE can!!!