Hold Your Head up High
By Maxine Thomas, Contributing Writer
Romans 8:1-2 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spiritof life in Christ Jesus has set youfree from the law of sin and of death.” Many times we walk in self-condemnation because of sins from our past life. Each of us has some things that we have done that have not been pleasing to God and that the devil will try to bring back to our remembrance to haunt us.
However, God wants you to know that it does not matter what bar stool you sat on, who you laid down with, what lie you told, or what crime you have committed. The day you asked God for forgiveness and invited Jesus to come into your heart, He washed every one of your sins away. Micah 7:19 says, “He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” He has washed you white as snow.
Still, there are those who will remind us of the “boulevard” where we usedto live. That too is a trick of the enemy for if Satan can get you to walk around all bound up in guilt and shame then you will not walk in the sufficiency of God’s grace or new mercies. You will not take hold to the fullness of your great inheritance that was purchased by the blood of the sacrificial Lamb of God.
Your salvation is more than pie in the sky when you leave this old wicked world behind. While you are still in the land of the living, you can have peace in your soul.
Romans 8:1-2 reminds us that to be in Christ means that you have been baptized into His burial and resurrection. Just because one has his or her name on the roll at a church does not mean that they are in Christ. Everybody in the church is not saved. In fact, the devil goes to church on Sunday morning too.
Being in Christ affirms John 17:21-23 for every born-again believer. Christ is in you and you are in Him and you are one.
If you want to experience true freedom from the guilt of your past, then you must receive the cleansing of your conscience as well as the cleansing of your heart. Instead of being conscious of past sins, you must be conscious of the redeeming blood of Christ. Allow God to cleanse the remembrance and shame of past sins.
When Christ is in you, He is your hope of glory (see Colossians 1:27). There is hope even after a life of drug addiction or prostitution. Whatever it was, there is now hope. Your glory is not in your shame. We glory in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
If you’ve been born again, you ought not to go to the same places, and do the same things. God is calling for a people who would deny the lusts of the flesh and pick up their cross and follow Him!
If you’ve been born again, you must endeavor to walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.”
If you’ve been born again you must walk in love. First John 4:21 says, “The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”
We ought to walk in peace and joy. We ought to walk in the knowledge that our sins have been forgiven and the blood of Jesus has washed every stain. You are really loved.
Exhale! You have wept long enough over sins that have already been forgiven. Exhale the remnants of sin consciousness and venture forth with renewed hope. You are forgiven.
The Rev. Dr. Maxine L. Thomas is an ordained itinerant elder in the AME Church and serves as the assistant pastor at Quinn Chapel AME Church in Louisville, Kentucky, where her husband the Rev. Troy Thomas is the pastor. She is also the campus minister at IGNITE Norfolk at Old Dominion University and is the director of Crossroads Ministry at Second Presbyterian Church in Louisville. She is the founder of Sisters Keeping the Covenant and the founder of My Sister’s Keeper Bible and Leadership Academy.
