Come Let Us Reason Together

Isaiah 1:18-19 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. ¹⁹ If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

God’s first call to us is to come.  His desire is for us to come to Him, not allowing anyone anything to stand between us.  God created us for relationship with Him. It grieves His heart when there is something in the way of that relationship.  When God was inquiring of where Adam and Eve were, after they had partaken of the forbidden fruit, it was not as an angry God looking for vengeance.  But it was a broken hearted God feeling the loss in the relationship. 

When we stray from God, His desire is always for restoration.  His call is to come as you are.  He doesn’t ask us to clean ourselves up or jump through a bunch of hoops first.  His call is to “come.” He will do the cleansing.  He has made the way of restoration available to us.  The remedy was made in Christ before the foundation of the world. 

The blood of Jesus Christ is like an eraser.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Psalm 103:8-14 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. ⁹ He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. ¹⁰ He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. ¹¹ For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. ¹² As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. ¹³ Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. ¹⁴ For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

Once our sins are cleansed there is no record of it in God’s book. They are put far from us, never to be found again.  One time a number of years ago, I was confessing a sin before God that I had long ago repented of, but was remembering for some reason. I heard the Lord say, “I keep no record of wrongs. Neither should you.” Initially I was a little puzzled. As He repeated His statement I realized what He was saying.  In 1 Corinthians 13:5 NIV one of the characteristics of love is to keep no record of wrongs. God, who is love, keeps no record of wrongs once they have been confessed and repented of.  His blood erases the record of that sin. 

Micah 7:18-19 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. ¹⁹ He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

I am so thankful I serve a God who delights in mercy.  His call is always to come to Him and reason together with Him.  He is a very reasonable God who has made the way for us to be forgiven of all our sins and to be able to daily walk in intimate fellowship with Him.

Welcome Home

When the prodigal son "came to himself," he realized that the hired servants in his father's house were much better taken care of than he was, at the present time.  So he decided to go home and ask his father to make him a hired servant.  When he got back home, his father met him and embraced him. The son stated that he had sinned against his father and heaven, but he never got to the part about asking to be made a hired servant.  His father clothed him in a robe, put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet.  The ring indicated authority in the father's house.  The shoes on his feet indicated his place in the family. (Servants didn't wear shoes.)  I assume the robe also indicated a place of sonship as well.

Although he thought he only deserved to be made a hired servant, he was reinstated into the family as a son .  Sometimes as Christians when we return and the Father welcomes us back to his house and back to his table of fellowship, we still act like hired servants. Because we feel like we don't deserve to sit at the Father's table we may stay at distance, maybe even living at a distance in the servant's quarters instead of in the Father's house.

The Father's heart desire is for us to dwell with Him in His house and eat with Him at His table.  His call is for us to come and fellowship with Him no matter where we have wondered or how we have previously squandered our inheritance. Father is always looking to welcome us back into His house as His son (daughter).

 Isaiah 1:18-19 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.

Luke 15:17-24 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry

No Record Of Wrongs

1 Corinthians 13:4-5  NIV Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Recently God reminded me that love keeps no record of wrongs.  We are to keep no record of the wrongs that people have committed against us.  And God keeps no record of the wrongs we have committed against Him.  Once we have repented our sins are put as far from us as the east is from the west. They are cast into the depths of the sea.

Psalm 103:11-12 KJV For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 

Micah 7:18-19 KJV Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 

As I was remembering a past sin and taking it before the Lord once again, He reminded me that He keeps no record of wrongs. And He told me that I should not keep a record of those wrongs either. I was to let the past forgiven sins stay under the blood and let the past stay in the past.  I needed to stay current with Him.

When the enemy tries to bring up the past we can point to the blood of Jesus and go on.  The accuser loves to continue to remind of the past and sometimes our memory banks bring it up too. We need to use the blood of Jesus like an eraser.