Personal Iniquity

Everyone who walks in harmony with God has a limp.

We struggle with worldly temptations and personal proclivities. Unhealthy desires mask our past pain and overwhelm our current convictions.

As a result, we often fail to abide by God’s moral standards.

We will give up on God if we think our unrighteousness means he is ineffective, we are defective, or this “God-thing” works for a select few but not for us.

These conclusions are erroneous.

Personal iniquity evidences the Scriptural truth that we retain our sinful nature after our spiritual rebirth.

The persistence of our unrighteousness merely affirms that our salvation is a matter of God’s grace, not our merit.

Knots

Every reborn believer has knots of unrighteousness. Some are readily apparent and conspicuous to everyone. Others are hidden in our hearts and known only to us.

Some knots are tighter than others. Untying them requires earnest effort over a long period. Some knots may not completely untie until we enter heaven.

Nonetheless, we should continuously strive to untie our knots as best we can with God’s help because his highest priority is for us to know him in all his fullness.

Each time we seek God’s help to untie our knots he draws near to us. This proximity helps us recognize facets of his excellence that we previously overlooked.

Toddlers

As toddlers, we frequently fell while learning to walk, but each time we stood up and tried again because the benefits of mobility were worth the effort.

Likewise, we often fall as we walk in harmony with God. But we should always stand up and try again because the value of his companionship is priceless.

God’s Foreknowledge

God chose to love us in eternity past despite his foreknowledge about all our imperfections. Nothing we do, think or say will ever change his mind.

His atonement for our sins—past, present, and future; intentional and unintentional; egregious and innocuous—is exhaustive and irrevocable. His forgiveness always exceeds our sinfulness.