Letting go of "Sin Managment"

This is my first attempt at a blog post, I hope you enjoy it and maybe find some insight to me and my thoughts. Let me know what you think.

Yesterday I got to fly with my friend and longtime student, Bob Altizer. Bob is a wonderful man of God and a great friend who always seems to have some insight. We hadn't flown together in quite a while and I was happy to hear that he was chosen to attend a John Eldredge conference a couple of weeks ago. For those who haven't read his book Wild at Heart I highly recommend it whether or not you are male or female.

Bob told me something that he took away from the conference and it really struck a tone with me. He said that you have to get away from living a "sin management" lifestyle. In other words you must stop admonishing yourself for your sins and accept the fact that you have faults and move on with your life. Now don't get me wrong I am not saying to sin and not be sorry, exactly the opposite. You must ask forgiveness and forget it. That's what God does. The Bible says that if you repent that you will be forgiven and your slate wiped clean. Notice the word, repent. To me this means to admit, forget, but strive to not partake again. Maybe you will, maybe you won't, but you must try. We can't live a perfect life and God knows this. That's the whole reason he sent Jesus to us, isn't it.

This hit me head on. It is exactly what I have been doing, living a "sin management" life. Thinking that God is mad at me for something and that I must watch myself so hard that the biggest disappointment is that God has is watching me be so worried that I am not doing what he put me on this earth for: to live a life and enjoy it. I can't imagine what it would be like to stand before Jesus and not be able to tell him of the joys I have had in life because I was too busy tip-toeing through life, and couldn't actually enjoy it.

I think he would tell me that I really didn't understand the 3 servants and the Talents. That it can be applied to life as well as money or faith. That we have all been given the gift of life and that God expects us to invest it in a worth while manner. He gave us the passions and skills that we have, for a reason. He wants us to use them and find Joy in him and life.