Dear Christian Friends,

Have you ever had that murky, ugly feeling inside, where you know that you’ve done a few things that weren’t right? You know, when you’ve said something behind the back of someone, been mean to a friend, or just been hurtful, mean, or cruel to yourself?

I can say with a heavy heart that I’ve done all these things and more. I’ve doubted God, been angry with friends, lied to my family (they can usually tell though), and just been a bad person. It sucks, and as Paul says in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do do.” How depressing is that? Even Paul was a bad guy.

DC Talk says in their song, “In the Light”:  “What’s going on inside of me? I despise my own behavior.” We do not understand what’s happening to us. We hate what we do. And yet, we cannot stop it.

So, many of us walk through life with that heavy feeling that we cannot make up for the bad things that we do. What follows then? We are a sinful, horrible people who do these things. What next?

Matthew 11:28, “‘Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.'” The words of Jesus Himself come to us as a comfort and strength in our times of trouble. He is there for us, for He has taken away our sins, and we are made sinless in God’s sight. We are washed in His blood and made white as snow.

Our prayer can be taken directly from Psalm 51:10-12, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presense or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

That is so powerful! We are forgiven and blessed by God, as horrible as we may think our deeds. He still loves us, and will watch over us. Romans 6:11, “Count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Remember, as DC Talk says, “All I want is to be in the Light.” And we are, in the love of Jesus Christ.

Read also: Psalm 51, Eph. 2:11-22, Matt. 11:25-30, Romans 6, and 1 Peter 2:9.