34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
It is only through the release of the power of God's Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives that we can live a life pleasing to God. We overcome sin as we recognize that we have a problem in a particular area and need to change. If we tolerate or accommodate sin, then we will live in less than what God has ordained for us in Jesus Christ. Sin has the potential to destroy our walk and our witness if we are unwilling to repent. It's powerful poison - we must humbly take the steps to walk in freedom!
In Titus 2, we read about the operation of God's grace:
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Let me say right now - I believe that we serve a God of second chances. We have a Savior who died for our sins, and has offered us a way of redemption from the power of sin, the promise of a new nature, and the ability to experience His forgiveness when we do sin.
Even when we do heinous things that some would think could not be forgiven, God is still longsuffering with us. Think of David and his great sin - he lusted after a woman, brought her into his house and committed adultery with her, and arranged to have her husband killed. But, with a humble and contrite heart, he called upon God, and his relationship with Him was restored. His life story can be an inspiration to all of us who have missed the mark in some way.
Even a former governor who was a potential Presidential candidate - while a Congressman, he was plugged in to the famous "C Street" group that offers accountability to Christians. He has spoken evangelical language and attempted to appeal to those who embrace family values. But, he had what many would term a fatal flaw - he possessed this inability, by his own choices, to be faithful to his wife. He even disappeared for 5 days a few years ago - he deceived his staff, who said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, when he was really in Argentina with a woman who was not his wife, with whom he was having an affair. A woman he intends to marry, now that he is divorced from his wife.
Fast forward now 4 years - in front of the television cameras last night, former South Carolina governor and newly elected Congressman Mark Sanford said this:
I want to acknowledge a God not just of second chances...But a God of third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth chances because that is the reality of our shared humanity.He used that theme of a "God of second chances" in his first television ad.
I was thinking about whether or not I would pull the lever for Sanford if he were running here. After the governor admitted his indiscretions, Christian leaders such as Chuck Colson and Al Mohler encouraged Sanford to go home and get his house in order, reconcile with his wife and four sons. He clearly has not, and will be in court tomorrow answering to a trespassing charge filed by his ex-wife.
And, yes, God is patient and longsuffering with us. But there is an element of repentance that sometimes gets downplayed if we mischaracterize the grace of God. The term, "repentance" implies a turning around, going in the other direction, passionately attempting, by God's power to eradicate the sin areas from our lives - it is a process that is precipitated by a choice. If we make the choice to follow Christ, to please Him, and to turn from sin and allow His righteousness to flow through and energize us, then we can release the overcoming power of the Holy Spirit active in our lives.
God offers a second chance, and there is great power in redemption, but I do believe there are conditions of the heart that have to be met in order to experience the wholeness in which He desires for us to walk.
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