Romans 6:21 - What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Why would some professing Christians tell the stories of the life they have put behind them? Why do they tell stories that happened when they were drunk or high? Why do they tell fight stories, bar stories, crime stories and more?
These tales might be funny... to someone who forgets "fools make a mock at sin" (Proverbs. 14:19).
They might be entertaining... to the unsaved who we are trying to win to Christ, but not by showing how much "fun" the unsaved life is.
Why do professing Christians tell such stories? I believe the answer is because they are NOT ashamed of them as they ought to be. They have not had their minds renewed (Romans 12:2). They have stopped doing certain things (hopefully), but they haven't come to see them as God sees them.
This is the essence of true confession. The Bible word for "confess" means "to say the same thing." We say the same thing as God does about our sin: "I did it, it was horrible, it stinks, I wish I hadn't done it, it was for sin like that which Christ suffered pain and death and those things contributed to His suffering."
That's what we say about the sins of our past. Not that they were funny or entertaining or amusing or worthy of a story to impress a co-worker or unsaved neighbor. We say they stink and I'm so glad I'm not like that anymore that I have no desire to even remember it, let alone revel in it for your amusement.
God help us to be ashamed enough of our past to walk boldly toward our future: FORGETTING those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, Philippians 3.
VM
Why would some professing Christians tell the stories of the life they have put behind them? Why do they tell stories that happened when they were drunk or high? Why do they tell fight stories, bar stories, crime stories and more?
These tales might be funny... to someone who forgets "fools make a mock at sin" (Proverbs. 14:19).
They might be entertaining... to the unsaved who we are trying to win to Christ, but not by showing how much "fun" the unsaved life is.
Why do professing Christians tell such stories? I believe the answer is because they are NOT ashamed of them as they ought to be. They have not had their minds renewed (Romans 12:2). They have stopped doing certain things (hopefully), but they haven't come to see them as God sees them.
This is the essence of true confession. The Bible word for "confess" means "to say the same thing." We say the same thing as God does about our sin: "I did it, it was horrible, it stinks, I wish I hadn't done it, it was for sin like that which Christ suffered pain and death and those things contributed to His suffering."
That's what we say about the sins of our past. Not that they were funny or entertaining or amusing or worthy of a story to impress a co-worker or unsaved neighbor. We say they stink and I'm so glad I'm not like that anymore that I have no desire to even remember it, let alone revel in it for your amusement.
God help us to be ashamed enough of our past to walk boldly toward our future: FORGETTING those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, Philippians 3.
VM
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