When my son was a year and half old he would stand, or sit on a little stool, next to the window at night, dressed in his pajamas and drinking his milk. His eyes would be focused on the moon. Every night. I wonder what his little mind was thinking while he gazed at it. After all, at 18 months he could not have grasped the fact that the moon was 238,855 miles away. Maybe it was the beautiful glow or the fact that it looked a bit different night after night. Perhaps he was thinking it was a small ball stuck up in the sky waiting to bounce back down on the earth and he wanted to make sure he didn’t miss it. Whatever he was thinking, he was absolutely adorable doing it! But, really, did you know the moon is about 238,855 miles from the earth? AND, the distance from the sun and the moon is on average 92,708,582 miles. Over 92 million miles. Unfathomable. There is no way of us ever travelling that far.
We, however, have a God so large that 92,708,582 miles is nothing to Him! Did you know that God will cast our sins even further? Yes, friends, He is that powerful! Psalm 103:12 says “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our sins from us”. East to West. Two points that can’t be measured. When you look at a compass these 2 points go in opposite directions and never meet. This verse is just one of God’s many promises to us. Once we bring our sins to Him and repent He separates our sin so far from us that we are no longer attached to them. We are set free. Not only does He free us from the bondage of our sin, He doesn’t keep track of them and even forgets them. Out of sight, out of mind. Completely. Do you see how HUGE this is? We have a God who loves us so much that He is willing to not only forgive us, but wants to send our sins so far away that they can no longer hurt us.
Why then, if we know that God forgives us, is it so hard for us to forgive ourselves? (I’m not even taking about forgiving others, which a whole other topic of conversation!) I’m really not sure of the answer, but I can definitely relate to the problem. Maybe it’s not about actually forgiving ourselves, but more about realizing we did wrong, accepting we are not perfect, trying to better ourselves so we do not fall into the same trap again AND accepting the fact that God loves us and He forgiven us. With that comes the ability to move forward and God absolutely wants us to move forward. That is the only way we can fulfill the purpose He has for our lives! How are we going to effectively love God and love people if we are burdened by the overwhelming weight of guilt and shame? I’m not sure about you but I am so grateful for God’s gift of forgiveness of my past that everyday I strive to worship Him more and love others better. It’s the least I can do. And since my soul has been cleared of the heaviness of my sin, I have space to fill it up with the joy of living. Friend, I want you to feel that joy as well. If you are feeling the heavy, crushing weight of sin please believe me when I tell you that He will forgive you, too. Just think, those sins will be further than 92,708,582 miles away!
Love, Melissa
P.S. This weekend I attended an AMAZING online conference with 2,200 Christian women. It was truly life changing and I’m so grateful to everyone at Proverbs 31 who put it on. I learned so much. But there was something one of the speakers said that really stuck out and I can’t stop thinking about Psalm 3, especially verse 3: “But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.” I’m going to continue to think about Psalm 3 this week (obviously if I can’t stop thinking about it means God placed it on my heart for a reason!) and I’ll be back next Sunday to share my thoughts!
Melissa Pillone Speaks 