SHEPHERD TO SHEEP
THE SINS OF OUR YOUTH
(Psa 25:7) Do not remember the sins of my
youth…
When we look back over our life
we have a lot to be thankful for and how far God has brought us. We also have a lot of things we are regretful
for. Especially those sins of our
youth. Those are the things that embarrass
us to no end. We wish they had never
happened. We never want to discuss them
and we hope that nobody brings them up. But
they did happen and every now and then they pop up in our thoughts and we must deal
with an unsolicited reminder. What should we do at these times? How do we deal with the sins of our
youth?
I think the first thing we must
do is take those thoughts to the cross.
Jesus died for us and has washed us from all our sins. The blood of Jesus has cleansed us and put us
in right standing with God. We are now
fully justified before a holy God by the merits of Jesus on Calvary! So when the thought of your youthful sins
come back for an unwanted visit, then introduce them to Jesus! They won’t want to stick around!! (Rom
8:1) There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…
Secondly, let’s think of our
youthful sins as a way to keep us humble.
Sometimes pride gets the best of us and we can get an inflated sense of ourselves
and our achievements. But one thought of
our youthful sins might be the very thing to pop our balloon. I think often of Peter who every time a
rooster crowed probably remembered how he denied the Lord. No wonder he spoke of humility in his
epistle: (1 Peter 5:5-6)…be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but
gives grace to the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand
of God, that He may exalt you in due time.
I remember my dad saying if I
went out for track he would buy me a Ludwig drum set. That was the coolest offer ever because that
is what Ringo Starr of the Beatles played.
But back then in sports you had to cut your hair and I didn’t want to
cut my hair. Everyone was growing their
hair out and I didn’t want to be uncool.
So I said no. How my dad must of
just shook his head. But now every time
I hear a good drum beat I think of my youthful foolishness.
Youthful sins are costly. But if we know God’s grace they don’t have to
come back to haunt us. In fact, God is
able to even take our stupidity and somehow turn it around for good. David went on to pray in his psalm: (Psa
25:12-13) Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He
chooses. 13 He himself shall dwell in
prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth.
By the grace of God I learned to
play the guitar and have led worship for the glory of the Lord. And my daughter became a drummer! Only God can do that. Satan is such a loser!!
Louie
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