I recently spoke to a group of young college women, some married, some single. During the breakout session we conducted an anonymous question-and-answer time where students submitted index cards with whatever questions they would like to ask. After almost twenty years of speaking on the topic of healthy sexuality, nothing really surprises me much anymore, but this question both surprised and blessed me:
How are you so perky and cheery about life? I mean, you were sexually abused before you were even a teenager, and experienced so many broken sexual relationships before you even finished high school! How can you possibly experience freedom? I feel as if it doesn’t exist.
Here is why I am so perky and cheery about life, in spite of the sexual trauma I have experienced and the mistakes I have made: I know who I am in Christ.
My biggest question to you, brothers and sisters, is, do you know who you are in Christ?
When Jesus died on the cross, He did not say, “Forgive them for their sins –except the sexual ones. Those are too big, so I’m not dying for those!” It sounds ridiculous to even consider Jesus saying such a thing, doesn’t it? I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the blood of Jesus shed is more than enough to cleanse me of every sin I have ever committed and every sin I will ever commit in the future. That blood is sufficient to cover all sin, throughout all of history, so why would I think my sin is so special that it was surely excluded from His sacrificial act on the cross that day? Absurd. I’m covered. I’m good. I’m free. And that is why I am perky and cheery. Who has the time to be all down about life when we have been given such a miraculous mulligan? We get to start over on any given day because God’s mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Are you ready to be covered? Good? Free? Perhaps even perky and cheery about life, marriage, and relationships? Then all you need to do is have faith that the blood of Jesus shed on the cross is more than enough to cover all of your sin as well. And I can promise you –it is! If you are unsure, well, that says a lot more about you than it does about God, doesn’t it? It really is a matter of simply receiving a gift that has already been given, ripping the scarlet letter off our sweaters, and doing a big, fat victory dance because we are free! Woohoo!
Watch Shannon this Monday on LIFE TODAY. Reprinted by permission. The Passion Principles by Shannon Ethridge. Copyright 2014 by Shannon Ethridge. Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.
