Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This an informal journal which is meant to convey in simple terms what God is showing me. If what God shows me requires more study and reference then I will write an extensive article for the web page. Here I am able to devote a page that will hopefully be a benefit to you. Recently, I thought about the Pharisees and their use of the relationship God established with them for a religious cover. I thought about my own life with God and saw something I do and that other christians might also be doing.

How do we look at sin? How do we deal with it? As Christians, we simply say "I'm forgiven, my sins are washed away, and everything is okay with me and God." I know where this thinking comes from. I have thought it most of my christian life. Jesus did die for our sins. We are forgiven. He cleansed us. We are clean, but we still sin. We transgress. We trespass. We then go to God and, by Jesus, we are forgiven the sins we commit now. This all seems right and scriptural and true. Then I thought of the Pharisees and what one of their problems was. They were white washed tombs, they cleansed only the outside of the cup, they did what they did to appear before men as righteous. We christians make the obvious observation that Jesus was telling the religious of His day to repent and be truly cleansed, inside, the heart. But there seems to be a lesson for us here. How do we who were cleansed on the inside still manage pride: how we appear before others or worse, how we appear before God. This is an informal journal so forgive me if I am not clear. Psalms 51 is one of the answers to our problem.

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. 13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

Look at the first part of the scripture;

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

"I acknowledged my transgression, and my sin is ever before me." This is where we might part ways. I think that we Christians should keep our sin ever before us. Why? Because it is necessary in many ways to please God. If we always are aware of our sin, our mistakes, our fallings, then we will remain thankful to Him for His mercy , His grace, His love. If we stop facing our sin then we will stop valuing our salvation and eventually see no need for it. The Pharisees perception of their own righteousness was a lie and they deceived themselves. We can fall the same way if we do not daily acknowledge our sin and keep it ever before us. When we do, God truly forgives us and tends us so that we can overcome. We are walking humbly with our God when we acknowledge our sin and continue to do so.

I know the argument coming. We as christians should not dwell on something that God has "cast into the sea of forgetfulness"...God says He will remember our sins, no more. You would think that if God is willing to forget them, we should also , but I think this is not right. The wonderful truth that God through Jesus forgave us and is now saying "I will forget your sins" is our hope and joy, and it is our very life with Him. But does this mean we should forget our sins? No. We should look at our sinful condition and remember from what we were saved and for that which we are forgiven. We are not God and us remembering who we are and what we were should lead us to thankfulness and humility. I am not saying we should condemn ourselves or beat ourselves up daily over our sins for that would be to say that Christ died for nothing. I am also not saying to allow satan to accuse us and bring up old sins to injure us. This would not be us keeping our sin ever before us, but satan reminded us and with evil intent. Jesus did die for our sins and saved us. We are now able, by the Spirit of God, able to acknowledge our sin and keep it ever before us and not feel condemnation but a keen awareness of our condition thereby never falling for the deceptions pride offers the righteous. What is the temptation of the saved, the clean? It is pride, that we look at our own cleaness and love our own beauty and forget the Master who bought us with His blood.

Scripture that says,

6 "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

This scripture is fitting for my piece on Relationship or Religion. "Whatever you do to the least of these..." But what is "hiding yourself from your own flesh?" If we do hide ourselves from our own flesh, are we then in danger of seeing no need to combat it and put it death? If we don't acknowledge the war between the flesh and the Spirit, and we do not confess our sins to one another and pray for one another, then we are cleansing the outside of the cup, we are making appearances. When we acknowledge sin, our sin, we directly are admitting failure, that we failed God. If we care about our life with the Father, then we are ashamed and we are humbled before Him. He forgives us and disciplines us. In Him there is no place for the prideful righteousness.

I conclude with Paul the apostle. Paul the apostle called himself the foremost of sinners. He was a persecutor of the Body of Christ. He says this. I believe that Paul kept this sin ever before him. Remember, King David keep his own sin ever before himself. This is not to say God did. God deals with our sin differently from us. God forgives it, takes it away, and forgets it. But we Christians, I think would do well to keep our forgiven sin ever before us so that we do not decieve oursselves into believing that our righteousness is our own and not a gift.