?I?ve confessed my sin to the Lord, but why do I still feel so guilty?? Have you ever felt like this, believer? Emotions are like fire, they can be a great blessing or extremely destructive. God intends to use our emotions constructively, while Satan?s intentions are only destructive. But know this, our emotions play a significant role in how we function as individuals. Feelings of guilt can come as a nagging thought or, for some, it can be crippling at times.

Guilt in and of itself is not a feeling but a state of being. Without Christ, one is in a state of guilt before Holy God because of sin against others and sin against God. There is a need for justification, which comes only through Jesus Christ, the propitiation of our sins. When a person puts their trust in Jesus to be saved, they are declared justified, or innocent, as if they had never sinned at all. Hallelujah! The believer?s sin, past, present and future is transferred to the cross of Jesus, and His perfect righteousness is transferred to our spiritual ?account.? ?For God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him? (2 Cor. 5:21). In other words, as far as salvation is concerned, God sees us as if we are as spotless as His own Son, Jesus. Guilt is a thing of the past. ?There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? (Romans 8:1).

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I was having lunch recently with a new pastor friend of mine who served on the mission field of Liberia for 26 years. Liberia is a third world African country that has been ravaged by poverty and war. In passing, he mentioned that the country had been given grants of money by the U.S. and neighboring countries to build large corporate complexes, housing and hospitals. As a matter of fact, in the capital city, Moravia, you will find the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, built with United States funds. However, in recent years these magnificent buildings have descended into disrepair, often to the point of disuse. Even entire hospital wings have been shut down, no longer the vital, bustling restoration stations they once were. As great as the gifts of these building have been to the Liberian people, the current result stems from one basic thing: the people have never been taught the importance of maintenance.

Just as machinery failures occur when not regularly checked, fueled and greased, maintenance is just as vital to you and me in every important relationship of life. Marriages often fail from lack of proper, consistent nurturing and care. The parent-child relationship can devolve into one of distance and resentment due to simple neglect. Our relationship with the Lord as well will suffer if not regularly maintained. As necessary as proper maintenance is, we often neglect it. Why? I believe because we tend to live by the urgent rather than the important.

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I was sitting with Scarlet today, who is 5 months pregnant with our first child. I have had many emotions over the last 5 months, along with my bride. Each month we read up on what to expect at each phase of pregnancy. Weird things happen to a woman when she?s with child. Once, while we sat together today, she looked at me and tried to communicate on the most simple of matters but her words uncharacteristically fumbled around inside her mouth. Giving up, she said, ?Oh forget it. If you wanna know what?s going on, just read chapter five in that pregnancy book over there.?

I?m glad that we have a Book that helps us to understand why we do the things we do in life, because sometimes we humans make little sense. The Bible, our manual for belief and practice, tells us why sometimes we don?t do the things we want to do and yet often do the very things we hate. I?m probably already striking a cord with you to some degree because we all have that in common. We all desire to please God yet often find ourselves shaking our head wondering why did we just did or said what we just did or said. Been there? Done that? What?s the problem? In Romans chapter seven, the Apostle Paul names the culprit. He calls it the ?flesh? (Rom. 7:18). The flesh is the old ways that we used to try to get our needs met apart from the Lord. Its how a person thinks and acts minus God.

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On May 28, 1999, a new and tremendous responsibility came into my life. Scarlet and I now have a baby girl, Gianna Corinne. As Scarlet and I sat on the bed musing over our new little treasure, I remember audibly noting the fact that Gianna was the cleanest of ?slates.? She had just come into the world, fully a person, but nevertheless having no baggage, no regrets, no scars, dysfunction, nor hang-ups. Sure, she has a little sinful nature that soon enough will rear its ugly head, but whatever part ?nurture? will play in her life to produce the adult she will become, she?s got none of it yet. She arrived as a lump of clay ready to be molded and shaped for good, for bad, or both.

And the overwhelming part is, that?s where I come in. I?m the influencer, the shaper, the God-called potter for this sweet little ?lump,? if you will. I?m a parent, along with my wife, responsible for this little life. I?m responsible to do one thing: to raise my child in the nurture (discipline) and the admonition (instruction) of the Lord.? Eph. 6:4

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If you are one of those folks who lives by a clock that never has enough time on it, keep reading. Maybe there?s even a chance your trying to read this while driving. If that?s the case, please don?t continue to read past the next punctuation mark. (Stop! I mean it. Please. Before you get yourself killed.) Or, if you?re reading this while inhaling your lunch and glancing at your watch every fifteen seconds, relax. I hope that by the time you?re finished you?ll have a different perspective on what you?re doing to yourself if your rushed behavior is indicative of an over-stressed, maxed-out lifestyle that you?re trying to live ?in Jesus? Name.?

Stressed, rushed, hurried, harried or otherwise, I?m glad you?re reading this right now because I want to address a subtle deficiency that is robbing God?s people of the abundant life Jesus promised.

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Louis Pasteur, the pioneer of immunology, lived at a time when thousands of people died each year of rabies. Pasteur had worked for years on a vaccine. Just as he was about to begin experimenting in himself, a 9 year-old boy, Joseph Meister, was bitten by a rabid dog. The boy’s mother begged Pasteur to use his experimental vaccine on her son. Pasteur gave young Joseph injections for ten days. The boy lived. Decades later, of all the things Pasteur could have etched on his tombstone, he asked for three words: Joseph Meister lived.

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What seemed so surreal yesterday now seems all too real for most Americans. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, I understand that there are far more questions than answers that are being offered up at this point and I certainly don?t comment today as one who claims to have all the answers. However, I have drawn some conclusions that, if accurate, may be significant and noteworthy.

Let me make clear in the beginning, lest the contents herein be misunderstood, that I believe in America and what she stands for as a free nation. I believe that this is the greatest country on the face of the planet. I am proud be an American as I have watched American citizens in New York and Washington, as well as the rest of the country, come to the aid of their fellow countrymen. I hurt for the victims and their families, as we all do, and my prayers join those of millions of people around the world who are praying for everyone involved in the rescue, recovery, and retaliation efforts in the aftermath of this heinous attack. I believe that with all our differences in this country, this tragedy will continue to galvanize the American people as we stand together through this grievous experience as one nation. Great good can result in spite of great evil.

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