I recently spoke to a group of young college women, some married, some single. During a breakout session we conducted an anonymous question-and-answer time where students submitted index cards with whatever question they’d like to ask. After almost twenty years of speaking on the topic of healthy sexuality, nothing really surprises me much anymore, but this question both surprised and blessed me:
How are you so perky and cheery about life? I mean, you were sexually abused before you were even a teenager, and experienced so many broken sexual relationships before you even finished high school! How can you possibly experience freedom? I feel as if it doesn’t exist.
Here’s why I’m so perky and cheery about life, in spite of the sexual trauma I’ve experienced and the mistakes I’ve made: I KNOW WHO I AM IN CHRIST!
My biggest question to you, brothers and sisters, is: Do you know who YOU are in Christ?
When Jesus died on the cross, He did not say, “Forgive them for their sins — except for the sexual ones! Those are too big, so I’m not dying for those!” It sounds ridiculous to even consider Jesus saying such a thing, doesn’t it? I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the blood that Jesus shed is more than sufficient to cleanse me of every sin I’ve ever committed, and even every sin I’ll ever commit in the future. In fact, that blood is sufficient enough to cover all sin, throughout all of history, so why would I think my sin is so special that it was surely excluded from His sacrificial act on the cross that day? Absurd. I’m covered. I’m good. I’m free. And that’s why I’m perky and cheery! Who has the time to be all down about life when we’ve been given such a miraculous mulligan? We get to “start over” on any given day because God’s mercies are new every morning! (see Lamentations 3:22-23)
Are you ready to be covered? Good? Free? Perhaps even perky and cheery about life, marriage, and relationships? Then all you need to do is have faith that the blood Jesus shed on the cross is more than sufficient to cover all of your sin as well. And I can promise you — it is! If you’re unsure, well, that says a lot more about you than it does about God, doesn’t it? It really is a matter of simply receiving a gift that’s already been given, ripping the scarlet letter off of our sweaters, and doing a big, fat victory dance because WE ARE FREE! Woohoo!
PRAYER: Lord, help me be excited about the life of freedom I am living because of the price you paid for my past!
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Part 1
by Shannon Ethridge. Copyright 2014. All Rights Reserved. Published by W Publishing Group, and imprint of Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN. Used by Permission. Not to be copied without Publisher’s prior written approval.