Daily Lesson for December 4, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 5 through 11:

5For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, 7and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. 8For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins. 10Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. 11For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

Guilt and shame are great hindrances to wholeness and witness. The devil is hard at work seeking to drag us back into the shame of our past transgressions. He would like nothing more than to see us again like Adam and Eve hiding behind the fig leaves, ashamed of our nakedness and afraid of exposure.

Prayer and training in Godliness help us to overcome our shame. It is a wonder what an antidote study of the Bible and the doing of good works can be. They remind us of our best selves and the rich mercies we’ve been given in God. These mercies far outweigh the sins of our past.

None of us is Lilly-white. All have fallen short of the glory of God. These are things we can and should freely confess, and not deny. But to dwell past mistakes so much that they rob us of our present and future cheapens the price for which we were bought at Calvary. We have been redeemed; we must not allow the devil to keep us from remembering that it is so.

Nearing the end of his life, John Newton former slave ship captain turned clergyman and author of the hymn “Amazing Grace” wrote these words, “Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”

That’s something worth remembering, alright. In fact, we must do all we can to never, ever forget it.