From the Inside Out

In my reading yesterday, I came across these two verses:

“For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”                 --Romans 2:28-29 (ESV)

These words of Paul wrap up his chapter long discourse in Romans 2 on how the Jews are not superior to the Gentiles, but that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). In first century Christianity, this was a huge deal. Christianity, at that time, was still largely a Jewish sect. It had begun to accept Gentile (non-Jewish) converts, through the work of Peter and the missionary journey’s of Paul, but some Jewish Christians weren’t entirely comfortable with this. They clung to Jewish superiority and insisted that any Gentile who converted would also have to become a Jew--most notably by undergoing circumcision.

Today, Christianity is--on the surface--very different. It is certainly no longer thought of as a Jewish sect, and I doubt that there’s anyone out there preaching that circumcision is necessary for salvation--or even for being a good Christian--any more. In light of all that, it would be easy to dismiss Paul’s remarks as irrelevant to us today.
But I think God can still teach us a thing or two from these old words. Looking again at this passage, I can see an underlying similarity between these verses and some of the situations we face today. Just replace Jews with Christians and circumcision with whatever ritual, attitude, or work you think of as the measure of a Christian. Since baptism is a common one, I’ll use that. The resulting paraphrase begins:

“For no one is a Christian who is merely one outwardly…”

There’s a whole lesson right there. A lot of “Christians” in the world today are only outwardly or nominally Christian…but let’s go on:

“For no one is a Christian who is merely one outwardly, nor is baptism outward and physical. But a Christian is one inwardly and baptism is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.”

There are a couple of important points here. First of all, an outward, physical ritual--by itself--is meaningless. Just because someone was baptized, it doesn’t mean they’re a Christian, or even a better Christian. All it necessarily means is that they got very wet. The same could be said of any “Christian” thing we do. It is possible for communion to merely fill the stomach. Reading the Bible makes one well-read, but not necessarily more spiritual. Prayer can be empty words that bring the speaker no closer to God. The list goes on and on. None of the things that we, as Christians, do--none of the things that I find myself judging myself and others on so frequently--really matter. In and of themselves, they are empty.
What’s important is our hearts. God is not after a bunch of wet, well-fed, well-read people who talk to empty space. He may well start out with that, but He is not content with it. He is after our hearts. That is the only thing that matters to Him, because He loves us.
All of these things are important, if they effect the heart. True baptism isn’t about getting someone wet. It does not matter whether the person is baptized as an infant, a child, or an adult, by sprinkling or full immersion, in a church, at a youth camp, at home, or in a cattle pond. What matters is that they make in their heart an inward commitment, between themselves and the Spirit, to obey Christ and give their lives to Him, dying to themselves and their old ways by His power and living a new life with God. True communion isn’t about eating bread and drinking wine (or grape juice). It’s about remembering in your heart that Christ died for your sins, giving His body to be broken and His blood to be shed to bear the penalty for your sins. Reading the Bible isn’t about absorbing information and achieving page counts. It’s about letting the Spirit of God speak to your heart through the words He inspired in centuries past. Prayer isn’t about what you say or how you say it. It’s an attitude of the heart, pouring out all your heart to God and trusting that He cares for each piece--good and bad. It’s about sharing with Him your troubles, joys, frustrations, and sorrows, from the heart, and asking for His help (or praising Him) for each of them. This brings us to the last part of the passage:

“His praise is not from man but from God.”

Man can only see what’s on the outside. Other people will judge you based on that. If you’re not doing the things they think you should, or doing them enough, or in the right way, they may well judge you negatively. They may think you’re less of a Christian, or they may think you’re not a Christian at all. That doesn’t matter. You don’t need their approval. Your praise doesn’t come from human lips, or thoughts. It comes from God. God sees the heart. If your heart is right in His eyes, if your love for Him is genuine and strong, He’ll know. He’ll praise you (isn’t that a thought!). It doesn’t matter if you don’t have the outward trappings other people think you should have. You’re not here to please them. You’re here to please God. Certainly, there will be outward trappings to your faith, but these should flow from the inside out, as God changes your heart. Otherwise they are forced and faked. If, on the other hand, your life is full of outward trappings that others clamor to praise, and yet your heart toward God remains--or has become--cold and weak, God also knows. His praise is your only purpose, the only lasting reward, and it cannot be gained by outward performance. Go to Him for a change of heart!

He is Faithful and Just

God's forgiveness is nothing short of amazing.  He loved us enough to die for us, and His mercy covers all of our sin.  The Bible says that if we just confess our sins to Him, He forgives us.  I have wondered before how God sets aside His holiness and justice to love me and have mercy on me.  I would read in 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he...[something something, skip that part, read "love and mercy" or whatever, the points that next part anyway, right?]...forgive us our sins..."

But in fact, 1 John 1:9, while it does talk about God's forgiveness, it makes no mention of His love or mercy.  From elsewhere in the Bible, we know that these things are certainly related, but this verse doesn't talk about them.  Instead, it makes a different connection.  It reads: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins..."  Just a few days ago, I was struck by that choice of words.  If I were writing that verse, that wouldn't have been my choice of words.  Maybe merciful and compassionate, loving and kind, gracious and favorable, but not faithful and just.  To tell the truth, those are the parts of God's character that I've often seen as being at odds with His forgiveness.  Even if felt forgiven by God, it was against that part of His character.  I would still wonder if, some day, His justice would return from wherever it was He'd sent it and overcome His forgiveness for me.  But here, all along, the words of the Bible stand in disagreement.  God forgives our sins when we confess them to Him...because He is faithful and just.

It is not hard for me to understand how His forgiveness is faithful.  For one, He promised His forgiveness right there in that verse.  Also, He promised He would never leave me (Hebrews 13:5).  Yet if He didn't forgive me, He could not conceivably stay with me.  Even humans can't abide hanging around someone they can't forgive.  Obviously, if He was determined to fulfill His promise to stay with me, He would have to forgive me.

But still I questioned.  Okay, so God couldn't leave me, and therefore had to forgive me.  But what if I left Him?  Could I, by a sudden lapse of my senses, stray so far from God that He would no longer be obligated by His faithfulness to forgive me?  And why would He place such an obligation upon Himself in the first place, when it was so opposed by His perfect justice--as I thought it was.

Faithfulness, though, is only half the picture of 1 John 1:9.  The other half is justice.  God is just to forgive us of our sins.  Now there is a truly profound thought, to me.  God's justice is served when I, having done something to incur His awesome wrath, run to Him in repentance and find His incredible love instead.  That's God's justice.  In fact, to take it further, God would be unjust if He didn't forgive us when we confessed our sins to Him.  Have you ever thought of that?  Forgiving our sins does not defy God's justice, or circumvent it.  God, in His unalterable justice, demands that we be forgiven when we turn to Him.  His justice requires it.  Why should such mercy be so justly required?  The answer to that draws us back to the cross, where Christ, in an act of profound mercy and love, took our sin upon Himself and endured the unflinching punishment God's justice demanded for all our sins.  At the same time, He passed on His flawless righteousness to us.  Now, when we go to God and confess our sins, the Father acknowledges that, in Christ, all our sins are already paid for.  Justice has been satisfied for all our sins in Christ's death.  Justice would no more be served by punishing us for the sins Christ died for than justice would be served by policemen demanding $60,000 for a $60 parking ticket.  More than that, since Christ has given us His perfect righteousness, God now sees us as blameless before Him.  Not only do we not deserve the $60,000 fine, we don't even deserve a parking ticket--our record is flawless, thanks to Christ.  Thus, for God (or, by extention, for any of us) to hold a grudge for our past sins, which are covered by Christ's blood, would be a gross injustice.  And He is incapable of injustice.

The verse doesn't end there, though, and neither does God's faithfulness and justice.  God will forgive our sins, but also He is faithful and just to "cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  God's faithful and just character does not allow Him to leave us where we are.  He will not simply say, "I forgive you" and leave us unchanged, allowing us to stumble without His aid or care.  God's forgiveness is not so careless as to leave us in our sin.  He is faithful and just, and when we encounter His forgiveness, it is not without encountering His power to change our lives, our hearts, and our actions, to make them holy and righteous forever.  It is a lifelong process, so we still stumble into the same sins over and over (and if we're really good, we move on...and find ourselves stumbling into new sins!).  But God, in His faithfulness, and justice, always forgive, patiently picks us up on our feet, and shows us the way to live righteously...and keeps showing us for as long as it takes (most of us are slow learners, I know I am!).  He never gives up on us, never condemns us, and never leaves us alone.

Aspects of the Gospel

During the last week, I came across these three verses that I thought were good illustrations of the gospel.  Since the gospel is the heart and soul of Christianity--and something I need to be constantly reminded of--, I thought I would post them here.

"I have swept away your sins like the morning mists.  I have scattered your offences like the clouds. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free."

--Isaiah 44:22 (NLT) 

We have sinned against God, all of us, offending Him more and hurting Him worse than we could possibly realize.  But God loved us and sent His Son, Jesus to die and pay the price for our sins, to set us free from them.  Sometimes, this is hard to believe.  Sometimes, when I've sinned, the sin seems so big to me.  I feel dirty, guilty, and unworthy of God's love.  At times like this, I try to push Him away, but He insists on being near to me.  While it's true that my sins are a big deal to God, I have underestimated how big a deal His love and atonement are.  Christ's blood covers all my sins, completely.  There's nothing left to offend Him, nothing left for me to feel guilty over, nothing left to spurn His love--Jesus swept all of that away, and now He bids me draw near to Him.

The Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.  John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"  But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."

--Matthew 3:13-15 (ESV)

 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

--2 Corinthians 5:21   (NIV)

 But taking away our sins isn't the end of the gospel.  Some people treat it that way, though.  The other day, I talked for an hour with four Mormon guys, explaining to them that salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone, from the scriptures.  They agreed wholeheartedly that Jesus had died for their sins, but insisted on believing that it was now their responsibility to earn God's rewards in heaven by their own good works.  A lot of people have this mindset, a lot of Christians even.  Sometimes, I catch myself doing it (as I wrote in a previous post).  Sometimes, even if I'm not feeling guilty, I'll see some Christian do some good "Christian" thing--like getting baptized, reading the Bible, praying, or winning the lost--and I'll feel a little insecure.  Look what they did, I think to myself.  I bet if I did something like that, God would love me more.  Sometimes when I fail to do one of these things when I know I should, I begin to feel like I've lost His love.  But it's not true!

Christ's death does more than sweep away our sins.  It gives us His righteousness.  How extensive do you think that is?  Christ prayed and read His Bible regularly.  He gave three years of His life to public ministry, evangelizing the lost and ministering to them.  He memorized scripture.  He was baptized.  He performed miracles by His faith.  To top it all, He was God's own Son!  There is no righteous deed that He didn't fulfill, and He gives that righteousness to us.  He counts those deeds as if we'd done them.  That means I don't need to worry about not being baptized as an adult: Jesus did it.  I don't have to sweat if I miss a day in reading: Jesus has it covered.  I don't need to wonder if God would love me more as a full-time evangelist or a college student: God already loves me that much because He accounts Jesus' ministry as mine.

Now, this isn't to say that we shouldn't do good works.  Ephesians 2:10 says that God wants us to do good works and has some in mind already, prepared for us.  However, these good works are not the measure of our Christianity, nor an assurance of God's love.  If we lack any of them, though it would be good to do them, we need not doubt for a minute that God loves us with the deepest love imaginable.  We cannot earn His love by good works, and a lack of them cannot make Him love us less.

"Oh you of little faith, why do you doubt?"

Matthew 14:29-31 was the subject of today's Sunday school lesson.  We've been going through Max Lucado's Fearless and this week addressed the topic of fear of being overwhelmed by circumstances.  We talked about it with the background of Peter walking on the water.  He took his eyes off of Christ and looked at the huge waves around him, and when he did, he felt overwhelmed and afraid (and consequently, began to sink).  My Dad (yes, I'm a P.K.--a preacher's kid) asked what circumstances threatened to overwhelm us in our own lives (what "storms" we had).  Of course, finances figured prominently.  My Dad's taking care of finances for my Grandmother, who's in an assisted living facility because of her Alzheimer's.  Prices there were a little over her retirement income to begin with, and they keep rising.  At this rate, it seems, in a few years, her savings will run out, and then what?  As for me, I look for scholarships every year, but there's never enough to cover the full cost of school.  I have three more semesters left, but only (barely) enough money for one.  Will I be able to find a job or a paying internship this summer and save enough for my last two semesters?  With my youngest sister heading to college in the fall as well, will my parents be able to support my last year of schooling?

My Dad then asked a common, but nonetheless still valid question: why does God allow these storms in life to come at all?

Of God and the Gender Gap

I recently finished reading a couple of interesting books by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn entitled For Men Only and For Women Only (yes, I cheated and read the one for the opposite gender). Each book's aim to take a well-researched look at common gender-gap miscommunications from a Christian perspective. The basis of each book is a series of professional surveys and study groups done on women and men. Based on this research, each book tries to communicate the biggest, most common, and least understood things about the opposite gender (thus, For Men Only is “a straightforward guide to the inner lives of women,” written for their husbands/significant others, and vice versa with For Women Only). Both books were very informative. I’ve had an interest in gender-differences for some time and read a number of books on the subject, but many of the issues uncovered in these books were totally new to me. I recommend them highly, and if you’re really interested in understanding the opposite sex, I recommend reading both books since it is just as informative to read what you don’t get about the opposite sex as to read what they don’t get about your sex. For instance, in For Women Only Shaunti explains to a bewildered female readership the true meaning of the trite observation “Men are visual”--a fact of life so basic to me and to men in general that I was absolutely stunned that many women could not relate to it at all.

I have to say the most interesting part of each book was the last chapter. Here, the Feldhahns presented the results of their open-ended survey question. On each of the surveys they gave out, there was a blank space for the participants to fill in any additional complaints or comments they wished they could give the opposite gender (specifically their spouse or significant other). Here was where men could rant about control of the remote and women could complain about his facial hair, if they so chose. But the overwhelming majority of respondents chose to say something very different in that extra space. Most of the men used the space to say that the one thing they most wanted the woman in their life to know was “How much I love her” or some variation thereof. Most of the women used the space to say that the one thing they most wanted the man in their life to know was “He’s my hero” or “How much I respect him” or some variation thereof. It was ironic--considering how each gender fails so miserably at sharing their “one thing” (the top complaint among men from the rest of the survey was feeling disrespected, the top complaint among women from the rest of the survey was feeling unloved)--, but touching.

Then, I remembered Ephesians 5:25-32, where Paul begins by charging husbands to love their wives. In the process of delivering that charge, Paul delivers a stunning revelation: the union of marriage is an allegory that “refers to Christ and the Church” (verse 32). I took those two open-ended responses from the Feldhahns and Paul’s proclamation on a brief mental tour of scripture. How often to do we see God throughout the Bible (New and Old Testaments) proclaiming over and over again to His own (whether joyfully to the faithful or--as often is the case in the Old Testament prophets-- with sorrow and jealousy for the unfaithful), “I love you”? And what is it that He demands the most from His people, and the most faults them for when they fail to give it?  It is the respect (the “fear of the LORD”) that He deserves as the God He is.

What would happen if we really opened our hearts to God as He says, “I love you,” over and over again? What would happen if we really gave Him respect and reverence, replying to Him from the heart, “You’re my hero”? How many of the frustrations in our spiritual lives result from failures to do just that?

The Quest

Clips from "The Man of La Mancha."  Yes, Don Quixote (as portrayed in the movie, not so much in the book) is one of my childhood heroes.  I have loved this song "The Impossible Dream (The Quest)" for its bold inspiration since I was in middle school.  I always wanted to follow it, but never thought I could (after all, I thought God wanted me to live small--I discussed this falsehood in "Nice Guys and the Good Guy Rebellion").  Now though, if anything, I think it's too small.  For one, in the clips, I think Dulcinea says something to the effect that all that matters is following the quest, even if you fail and are defeated--that's not supposed to matter as long as you died following your quest!  Well, not to undercut the nobility of Don Quixote, but success or failure means a lot to me.  I will not give my life for a quest, or anything, without caring a great deal whether or not the quest was fulfilled and my sacrifice meaningful.  Only suicidal fools devote everything to something they care nothing about.  Still, the noble call of "The Quest" is something that resonates with me, and always has.  It is, at the least, a good place to start.  So, here's a brief response in the form of a commitment between myself and God, for "The Quest".

To dream the impossible dream,
Father, I swear to You that, as You enable me, I will have the faith and vision to believe You for impossible things, to overcome impossible obstacles by Your help.

To fight the unbeatable foe,
I swear, as You strengthen me, to resist the devil and all the forces of evil, where ever I find them, with all the strength, might, and cunning that You give me.

To bear with unbearable sorrow,
I swear, by Your grace, to be true and sincere in my heart and in my relationships with others, learning to rejoice, laugh, shout, and cry just as You do.

To run where the brave dare not go,
I swear to be brave and bold, to act with courage and valor, not giving in to fear, because I know that You are with me and You are greater than all my fears.

To right the unrightable wrong,
I swear, through Your power working in me, to confront the ills I see in the world around me, overcome them, and help others to do likewise: to leave the world a better place.

To love pure and chaste from afar,
I swear, as You make me able, to love You--my God--, my (someday) future wife, my brothers and sisters in Christ, my neighbors, and my enemies, as You have taught me: purely, righteously, actively, and passionately.

To try when your arms are too weary,
I swear to never give up, as You help me and give me strength day by day for my struggles.

To reach the unreachable star!
Most of all, I swear to reach out to You, the bright Morning Star (Revelation 2:28 & 22:16), and take hold of You--and be taken hold of by You (Philippians 3:12)--forever, through Your grace and by faith in You.

This is my quest:
To follow that star,
No matter how hopeless,
No matter how far!
To fight for the right,
Without question or pause.
To be willing to march into Hell
For the Heavenly cause!
And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest,
Then my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest.
And the world will be better for this,
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star!

Why does God love His Saints?

Here's a post for the sake of my own memory, and of anyone else who struggles with this question.  I know I'm prone to forgetting the answer to this one.

Last weekend, the Navigators of CSU had the distinct privilege of hosting Jerry Bridges, author of the book The Pursuit of Holiness, which we are currently studying.  He spoke at NavNight that Friday and then gave another speech to the student leaders the next morning.  There, he confessed that the one thing he thought was lacking in The Pursuit of Holiness was sufficient reminders of the grace of the gospel, which is central to the pursuit of holiness in a Christian's life.  He said that, in his experience, Christians had two very different ideas about why God loved them and why they stood justified before Him.  Of course, every true Christian knows that at the moment of salvation it is not his or her good works that bring God's favor.  At salvation, the great truth is that God's favor is given solely on the basis of God's grace, totally unmerited by any works.  Of course, the focus at the moment of salvation is often another moment: the moment when we will stand before God.  We know that, at that moment, as at the moment of salvation, we will be justified before God and receive His eternal love in Heaven solely on the basis of His infinite grace, not merited by our good works or lack thereof (mostly the latter!).

But what about in between?  What about in our day-to-day lives, somewhere between the Cross of conversion and the Throne of God?  Right now, if I were to ask you if God is pleased with you, whether you are justified before Him and abiding in His love, what comes to your mind?  The cross of Christ?  I confess this is not what I first think of.  What pops immediately into my mind is a checklist of things I'm supposed to do, as a good little Christian, and a list of sins I'm supposed to avoid.  Did I have a quiet time this morning?  No, well, that's minus 2.  Did I evangelize any this week?  Yes!  Well, sort of...aww, I'll give myself five points anyway.  Have I been keeping up with my prayers [Yes, I honestly think of it this way far too often]?  Well, no, not today, but I got my whole prayer list for yesterday, that's gotta be worth a point.  Have I sinned, to my knowledge, today?  Well, yeah...guess that's two off...  Have I confessed that sin and made it right with God?  Well, honestly, no.  I was waiting for my quiet time so I could get the points from that before I brought up those sinful thoughts from this morning.  Rats, that's worse than the sin was to start with: minus six.  So, in all, is God pleased with me?  Am I justified in His sight?  Does He love me?  Well, guess not, I mean, I added up my good and bad from the day so far and I got a -4.  God must be upset with me 'cause I'm such a bad Christian.  He must not love me just now.  Now, I don't doubt for a moment that I'm saved by grace and that, if, as I was adding up my -4 score for the day, I was hit by a bus, I would still go to Heaven to be with God, based on the cross of Christ--well, maybe I doubt it a little as I stare at that negative score Oh, no!  Doubting God's grace for my salvation!  No good Christian ever does that!  It's gotta be minus 15!  Now, God must hate me!--but I certainly find it difficult to believe in His love for me at that moment.


To quote a more eloquent Christian (my thanks to Jerry Bridges who shared this quote from some other writer, I think...): "I know we're saved by grace, but I'm certain we gain His favor through our obedience."  Yet there is a big problem with this day-to-day performance-based theology: we never obey perfectly, though the Spirit lives within us and gives us everything we need for perfect holiness.  All too often, we are with Paul, bemoaning our poor performance and wondering why we always seem to do the opposite of what we know we should do (Romans 7:15 & 19).  This being the case, if God's love and favor in our present lives is based on our broken obedience, God must not love us at all in this life!

God has something to say about this.  His constant reminders of His unfailing, unchanging, unconditional love (throughout scripture and daily life) overwhelm my wall of doubts.  His brazen love for me confronts my scorecard and begs the question: Is God mistaken?  What should I do, shout up to the Heavens: Hello?  Didn't you check my scorecard today?  I just added it up and it's about twenty below.  You can't possibly love me today.  It's not allowed, and certainly not in this sort of intimate incredible way, God.  Wait until I do my quiet time, go to Bible study, do some evangelism, and say some really great prayers, then I'll have a nice fat positive score again and You can love me all You want....Just not now God, honestly, You of all people should know that sort of thing is wrong!  It's ridiculous to the point of being comical in print, and yet tragic in it's reality.  Quite often when I'm conscious that I'm not living up to the image of the "perfect Christian good-guy" in my head, and yet God shows His love to me in some profound and powerful way, this is exactly the way I feel and exactly what I'm tempted to say to God.  Don't touch me now, God.  I'm a mess.  I haven't cleaned this sin out of my life.  I haven't touched up my Christian face with some make-up spirituality all day.  I'm gross.  Please don't love me, just leave me alone for now.  How about tomorrow, if I get cleaned up?  God's reaction seems to range from a bemused shake of the head to heated rage (the latter especially when I'm a real mess and the temptation to push His love away is so strong--and yet He and I both know that if I don't have His love expressed to me and held in the forefront of my mind at those moments, when I most need it, I'll be sunk.  He won't let me get away with spurning Him at a time like that [hmf, listen to the ridiculous pride of it, spurning God]).  In the Bible, by Paul, God decries this sort of a mentality: "Are you so foolish?", he says in Galatians 3:3, "After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?"  Where in the Bible does it say that the grace of God is limited to salvation and the Judgment Seat?  Where in the Bible does it say that we are to earn the favor of God day-to-day?  Rather, Galatians 2:20 says that the grace of the cross applies to our lives which we live now, in this flesh.  Yes, it is justifies us before God in Heaven, when we die, but between now and then, it does not somehow pass out of potency.  God does not extend one type of love to us on Judgment Day and another on Tuesdays.  It is the same unconditional love, the same grace based on the sacrifice of Christ, that we look forward to at the end of our lives which we receive even now (along with discipline--based in that love--and hardships).  When God chooses to share His love with us, who am I to question it and declare the cross ineffectual?  When I'm asked whether I'm in God's favor today, I should forget the scorecard and look at the cross.  Yup, it's still there.  He must love me a lot, today!


To know that the basis of God's love is our identity in Christ (which in turn is based in Christ--in the identity of God: that is to say, Of course God loves His saints, 'cause they're His and He's God!) and not our shady performance is comforting and freeing for me.  My sins, present and past, are nailed to the cross, and I need no longer be petrified of them.  When I've sinned, I can boldly confess it before the throne of God, trusting that He will forgive me of whatever it is I've done by the blood of Christ...just as He always does, Is He not the Father of faithfulness?  I need not sit around worrying that I might sin and crash into an abyss of a week, a day, an hour, or even sixty seconds without God's unfailing love.  What could I possibly do that would max out His sacrifice?  This is not to say I should not take sin seriously or I should feel free to sin all I want.  Rather the assurance of God's unfailing love should embolden me to do righteous deeds, though I know that this entails a risk of screwing up and winding up in sin (like they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.  I've ventured nothing enough for one life!).

I'll end with this thought from Lamentations 3:22-23, on the unfailing love and bottomless grace of God in daily life:

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: Great is Thy faithfulness!"