“You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”  Micah 7:19 NLT

Do you remember the classic movie Animal House?  In the fraternity paddle scene, in hopes of being accepted into the pretentious fraternity, Chip Diller assumes the bent over position, and is smacked repeatedly with a wooden paddle on his fanny.  “Thank you Sir, may I have another?” is his recurring line.

That’s how I feel sometimes.  No matter how far removed I am from my past, it continues to haunt me.  And rather than let go of the past and move on, the constant beating is the only payment that removes the guilt I feel for what I have done.

Thank you.  May I have another?

God forgives us as soon as we ask for forgiveness, but for some reason, we’d rather continue whipping ourselves.  Sometimes it’s all we know.  We are familiar with punishing ourselves, even if it’s bad for us.  Rather than change, we assume the position.

Thank you.  May I have another?

In the early 1500’s reformist Martin Luther was disgusted with how the Catholic Church handled forgiveness of sins.  The priests would sell indulgences to the rich, and to the poor, they would pass out penance.  The penance would often include beating one’s self with a whip until the sinner felt worthy of forgiveness, or until they were able to come up with money to purchase the indulgence.   This practice was one of the main reasons Luther wrote his “Ninety-Five Theses” and taped them to the chapel door at Wittenburg.  He wanted people to know that grace comes from God through the shed blood of Jesus and is a gift that is freely given to any and all who believe.  No amount of money or thrashing can earn His free gift of mercy.  So why do we continue to whip ourselves?

We all have done and said things in our past we are not proud of.  When we become a Christian, we become a new person. [2 Corinthians 5:17]  We stop doing the things we did before.  We learn from our mistakes.  Romans 6:1,2a reiterates, “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more grace?  Of course not.”  We need to take responsibility for our actions.  Scripture does tell us to mourn our sin.  In James 4:9-10, we are told to shed “tears for what you [we] have done.  Let there be sorrow and deep grief.  Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.”  Afterward, when we “humble ourselves before the Lord, He will lift you [us] up.”

The evil one will continue to bring our past up to discourage us.  His job is to kill, steal, and destroy [John 10:10].  Don’t listen to his lies.  God promises us that we are forgiven.

If we are going to extend forgiveness to others, we first must accept forgiveness ourselves.  Why are we holding onto our transgressions if God promises to hurl our sin into the sea?  Rather than assume the position, we can accept God’s free gift of grace, mourn our sin and humble ourselves before the Lord, replace lies with God’s truth and let go of the past so that we can start living the life that God has planned for us.

Peace be with you~

Julia