Not for sale

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​Many years ago, I had a friend who was filled with regret and remorse over a single decision in her life that changed her forever. In spite of it all, my friend gradually came to terms with this decision and its consequences and found peace and forgiveness in Christ. But it was a struggle and didn’t happen overnight. Before she got to this place in life, she’d gone to the front for prayer at her church repeatedly to receive Christ after the sermon. Although she was expressing a need for forgiveness, it was apparent that her public expression was becoming obsessive and revealed something was terribly wrong. Instead of faith, self-recrimination would return and she was back to square one. She longed to receive Christ, but she didn’t seem to believe He would receive her!

Calling attention to her lack of faith was not solving her problem because the problem was, she was unable to forgive herself. Until she accepted, once and for all by faith she was forgiven by Christ on the cross, it didn’t seem to matter how many times she prayed to receive Him. For “without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, (Hebrews 11:6 KJV). The fact is, God wasn’t interested in making her a public example of how not to believe, He wanted her to put her doubts to rest once for all and simply believe the gospel.

In the same way, we should never keep climbing the auction block of fear and unbelief. Many sad souls are bought and sold there. In the case of my friend, someone near and dear finally stepped in to help her see the light. What he was really saying was “I love you. The Lord loves you. You are blood-bought and you are forgiven. Stop getting on the auction block. You are not for sale anymore.”

by ​Toni Babcock
Minnesota, USA - info@grace-lines.net