Right with God

I am deeply aware of my own sin. Those close to me have often told me that I'm too hard on myself as I agonize over the things that I do wrong. I'm no pre-converted Martin Luther, but I do constantly get frustrated and upset with myself over the many things that I do wrong. On the one hand, this can be a very positive quality. I'm very introspective and very aware of the things that I do wrong. But it's also easy to lose sight of the justification that we have been given.

Scripture tells us that because of Christ's death, we have peace with God. What an amazing statement--all the wrong things that we do, intentionally or unintentionally, even the wrong things of which we are not aware--all of these are erased from our account and not viewed by God as He judges us and declares us not guilty in His sight. That God would choose to forgive any of us of even one sin is an amazing thought indeed...that God chose to forgive me of all of my sins and debit them to Christ's account is unimaginable.

I often don't understand this as well as I should. I do not appreciate sufficiently what it means to be right with God. But I want to. I want to understand justification and truly live in light of the fact that God has declared me justified...not to become an antinomian, but rather to not feel the need to punish myself for my transgressions or try to pay God back for His sweet forgiveness. Instead, I want to serve God forever out of thankfulness.

"Love so amazing, so Divine demands my soul, my life, my all" (Watts)

Luke