Bound In My Christian Chains

The room was dark, and I snuck into the back. The group of communicators were already on stage taking questions from the crowd. The conversation ball was being tossed from the audience to the panelists and back to the audience again..

The answers were familiar Bible until one speaker told an audience member that we were forgiven once for all our sins — every. single. solitary. one. Forgiven for the past, the present, and even the ones we haven’t committed yet. No need to ask for forgiveness again EVER. [Imagine a needle sliding across the vinyl, and you hear a high-pitched scratching sound.] Yep that was happening in my head along with a famous ’80s saying “Whatchoo talkin’ about Willis?” ( I may have just dated myself.)

That was the day my pharisaical righteousness came face to face with God’s love, and I saw my Christian chains for the first time in the light of His grace. But before I go into that let me rewind a bit.

God Was Setting Me Up.

We had recently begun attending a new church (more on that at another time) when the church hosted a conference called Freedom Walk. I didn’t know any of the speakers, and I had no idea about the topic of the event. I just wanted to be of service to my new church — so I thought.

What was actually happening is I was being set up. I had been in about a 2-year season of unlearning some biblical truths that had somehow gotten twisted over time. But what I didn’t know was that God was getting ready to cause an earthquake and everything that could be shaken was about to be shaken. And some truths He’d taught me over 20 years ago was going to resurface.

Bunch of Crazy Talk.

To say I was agitated was an understatement. What kind of crazy did I walk into? What do you mean forgiveness once for all? Did he really say we never have to repent, confess, or plead for forgiveness again? And I began to go through a list of scriptures that thoroughly discredited that statement.

And I was completely ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater until the Holy Spirit shushed me. Yes, He shushed me and my little Pharisee attitude and quickened me to simmered down.

Oh, I was still certain I was right and he was wrong. It didn’t matter that he had Ph.D. after his name. I knew my Bible, and it was a good thing, too, otherwise, I would have been deceived.

Lies Bind and Truth Liberates

The crazy part about deception is you don’t know that you’re deceived until you began to hear the truth. And the truth will rub up against any bit of pharisaical spirit that resides within you — because lies will bind and muzzle your spirit, but the truth will liberate you. And the two cannot co-exist when one realizes the other is present.

This single solitary statement turned my entire world upside down and had me studying and questioning for months to come. When I landed right side up, I was less a few dozen Christian chains. And, friend, I want you to have that kind of freedom, too.

Before you check out on me and think I have started subscribing to some Christian cult that believes you can do whatever you want without any consequence for your decisions. I haven’t. I do want to ask you to do one thing… Stay with me over the next couple of weeks while I unpack this truth with you.

Maybe There is Some Truth to It.

The biggest take away for me with completely forgiven once for all is that God’s grace allows me to stop working so hard at trying to get something right that I was never equipped to get right in the first place. The sacrifice of Jesus and the shedding of His blood ONCE was enough to cover my sins for ALL time. This single solitary truth has freed me from trying to make amends, keep track of, or work on maintain my good little Christian status.

So let me say this…

• If you’ve ever been fearful that you’re not forgiven.
• Or perhaps you subscribe to the belief that at salvation your past was washed away and you were made white as snow, but now it’s up to you to stay clean.
• Or that your purity is maintained through confession and forgiveness.
• Or maybe you still wrestle with the guilt and shame of past sins even though you have confessed them over and over again.
• Or the memories of past regrets taunt you with thoughts of unworthiness and that you’ll never be enough.

Then hear me when I say, you’ll want to consider following this series.

The Simplicity of it All.

Salvation and walking as a Christian was never meant to be complicated. The New Covenant was to simplify the complexity of the old one. Jesus did it. He took care of all our sins once for all time so we don’t have to keep going back to get things right. When you understand what ALL means, I promise you that you’ll lose about 100 pounds of Christian bondage for good!

See ya next week… now I need to get to writing. But let me leave you with this to chew on…

God made you alive with Christ. He forgave ALL our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. (Col. 2:13-14)

… But now once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice. (Heb. 9:26)

All my love and friendship,

PS… Did this blog rub you the wrong way? Are you running a dozen scriptures through your head, too? Leave me comments or email me privately and let me know your thoughts on this subject. Do you believe we need to confess and ask for forgiveness? Do you believe the Bible teaches that? Let’s chat.