2 Samuel 12:1 And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

This begins a story about sin.

2 Samuel 12:7a And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.

David did not recognize that Nathan was talking about him until Nathan revealed it to him. Such is the dilemma of the use of the Word to administer correction in our own lives. We see the sin but fail to recognize ourselves in the telling.

John 8:9a And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience,

Do you have a clean conscience? I know in my heart that I am capable of sin and that the conscience is but a tool to lead us to repentance. I would much rather search my conscience and discover there is no sin, than to say there is no sin and push the Holy Spirit to the next level of conviction.

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Chastening is a sign of sonship, I am His son. Scourging is applied to sons who do not own up to what they have done. It has always gone easier on me to admit what I have done, than to make Him present the evidence against me.

What God has built in us, to bring us into a closer relationship with Him needs to be used to the fullest to get the most out of it. If I can be honest with myself, it makes it all that much easier to be honest with God.

Luke 1:77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,

It is that time of year again that we celebrate the birth of Christ. Today I would like to focus on one of the essential purposes for His coming. Please understand this is only one element and not the whole story. Jesus and all He has done for us and in us cannot be summed up in one issue.

Remission of sin is a multifaceted word, meaning it serves more than one purpose. The first and primary issue is removal of the shackles, that bondage, the imprisonment. We are set free. All well and good but does nothing to the sin. There is a abstract detachment, the chains have fallen and you are free to walk away, but the sin and the shackles still lay there on the floor as you picture it in your mind.

The secondary and more important issue of remission is found in forgiveness, a pardoning of sins. It is a letting go of the image of the sin as if it never happened. Yet it did happen, I remember it, I can still see it laying there with the open shackle waiting for me to return to be bound up together again. This part of remission is difficult for many of us but is just as essential to salvation as the breaking of the shackle.

1 Timothy 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity (agape love) out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

A good conscience is one which is purged of the self-image of the one who committed the sin. Yes you did it, yes it cannot be undone, yes the consequences of the sin exist, BUT the man who committed them died in Christ and no longer exists. If you cannot let go of the self-image of “those are my sins”, then you do not have a clean conscience because something in you will not allow you to walk away from the scene of the crime and walk in the freedom that is yours in Christ.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

All things includes forgiving yourself as much as it does all the rest. If you are having a difficult time walking away for some reason you cannot understand. Get help. It is essential.