Jerry Lynn has a problem... and no matter how hard he tries,
he can’t get it out of his mind (or ears).
In September of 2004, Jerry was struggling to find the
perfect place to drill a hole for some TV wire he was running. His brilliant idea? Lower a battery-powered alarm clock through a
vent in the wall down to where the wire would go... and when the alarm went off
he would hear it and be able to locate the place on the wall to drill. Problem is that halfway down the wall, the
clock slipped off the string and fell.
Now at 7:50pm every day he hears the alarm going off in the wall and
can’t do a thing about it. His only
hope? An eventual dead battery.
The batteries are still going...
Every day Jerry Lynn is reminded of a bad decision from his
past. Are you?
Do you wake up to the sound of a failed marriage or the
clanging of a broken friendship? Are you
alerted to who you used to be every single day?
You want to reach for the snooze bar... to try to quiet the feelings of
regret even temporarily... but you can’t.
You have made the mistake, broken the trust, hurt the person, caused the
pain, or abandoned the commitment.
And every day you hear it in the walls of your mind.
There’s hope... and you don’t have to wait on a battery to
stop working. There can be peace in
your life today. Want to silence the
ringing? Meditate on this verse:
1 John 1:9 “But if we confess our sins to him, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”
This verse gives us two instructions: confess and trust. Tell God what went wrong from the past. Cry out to Him and let Him know what you did,
felt, or believed. Come clean and reveal
to God what He already knew. And you
know what happens after that?
Your sins are forgiven.
Pardoned.
Excused.
Absolved
Paid for.
Separated from you.
Behind you.
Gone.
Then it’s time to trust.
Count on God to cleanse you... to help you move past your past into a future
filled with hope. What you did is NOT
who you are. It doesn’t define you and
shouldn’t constrain you.
When we confess and ask for forgiveness... God cleanses us
from our wickedness. No more ringing
clock. No more echoes. No more needless reminders.
We are free.
Today, take that first step.
Spend some time talking with God about what’s keeping you up at night
from your past. Confess what happened and
ask Him to forgive you. His word says
that He will.
It’s time to shut off that alarm for good. No need to wait on the batteries... or hit
the snooze bar... it’s time to permanently break free and enjoy the peaceful
stillness that comes with forgiveness. I’ll
be praying for you as you do.
