consequences.

mingjie, zing and i had a rather intriguing discussion
at cell last sat.
it was something hard to swallow,
at least for me..

we were talking abt something else,
and we drifted to the grace of God and consequences.
something which we've often misunderstood,
or taken advantage of.

since i don't know what others think,
i thought it'll be prudent to blog only on my views.
i used to think Jesus died on the cross for our sins,
which means we're 'clean' once we repent.

firstly, repentance is usually a once-off affair,
where we repent and try our utmost best to NOT do it again.
whereas, confession happens almost everyday,
where we profess our guilt and sorry to God.

kent chipped in after a while,
quoting an analogy he heard/read from somewhere.
"we're like a piece of white cloth.
each time we sin, blots of stains will be on us.

and each time we ask for forgiveness and repent,
the blots are washed clean.
and as human beings,
inevitably, dis process repeats itself for many many times.

someday, you'll find the cloth getting thinner and thinner,
or turning yellower and yellower.
it might even tear after many washes.
that is the nature of events.."

likewise, the more we sin after repentance,
the more washdown we will get.
and after each wash,
we can nvr be the first-state. NEVER EVER!

that brings us to the consequence part.
mingjie reminded us wif his personal belief and conviction,
that even though God forgives,
consequences will still be playing on.

it is the nature of life,
the very nature that God created.
its like global warming..
we've done a great deal of harm.

and now, the effects of our reckless 'sins'
are merely playing out.
regardless of how guilty we feel,
or how urgently we wanna make a difference.

the bare fact is dis,
that the glaciers will not be 'refrozen' like how it was again.
the temperature will nvr be as cold as before.
the MOST we can do, is to PREVENT the temp from further drop.

zing interjects and contributed,
"is there anywhere in the bible that says explicitly
-God forgives AND FORGETS-?"
we all shook our heads in a brief disbelief.

a phrase or term we use so so often!
so much so that we've the impression that
God forgets our transgressions.
we're sure He forgives, but does He forget?

looking at the nature He made,
the course that nature prevails.
it somehow spells out that
"what is done cannot be undone."

but looking ahead, are we going to keep doing it.
in dis case, keep sinning.
mingjie made another good point,
"there is no such thing as secret sins."

which i think makes alot of sense.
off my head, i can easily quote a few examples!
adultery - the saga around tiger woods.
the seemingly seamless affairs he's had!

they're all revealed.
by way that none of us could anticipate!
a carcrash.
what a way to be exposed, but it happened!

pornography - studies haf shown and was reflected
in the papers last week.
that ALL men watch porn and they watch it alone.
and only a handful watch porn in a group.

is it really a secret sin?
how can pornography and masturbation haf any tangible consequences?
the truth is,
sin manifests in many ways, but nothing can stop its manifestation..

being hooked on porn, will be reflected in our daily lives,
the way we look at females,
the things we fantasized abt
and many other things!

these are the consequences that we've to bear!
we can feel and be however sorry,
but the truth is that we'll still bear the brunt of consequences.
it is sad, but inevitable.

so then, if our repentance changes nothing,
why should we even repent?
dis is the good news of the sad brunt.
each time we repent, He restores Himself to us.

as much as the consequences continue to play out in our lives,
we can be assured that the Lord is back in us.
and His grace and mercy will see us through..
He restores our r/s and communication wif Him.

i've been struggling wif dis many times,
that when i've commited a mediatated sin
the immense guilt serves as an inherent barrier to speaking wif God.
only when i repent, i feel so free to speak to Him again!

so brothers and sisters,
let us not take the cross of Christ for granted.
thinking that we've unlimited 'tokens' to sin and repent.
let us keep our walk focused and disciplined!