Line Upon Line with Lawrence Yap
18 August 2020 | Psalms 23

What does this mean to you?

2 ways at looking at this.

Firstly, Jesus said, ‘what does it profit for a man to gain the whole world but to lose his own soul?”

-We thank the Lord, through His complete work at the Cross and resurrection, He restored our soul.

-Our soul is secured for eternity.

The other aspect of looking at our soul is understanding what the soul represents.

1 Thess. 5:23 says, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Body – the physical part.

Soul – the emotional part. Our feelings; our thoughts.

Spirit – the spiritual part of us that is God conscious.

We all need to have our soul restored periodically.

• We get hurt- life’s tough.
• We are affected by discouragement, depression, despair. We have fatigue, failure, frustrations, fears. We carry wounds, battle scars, emotional garbage.

God wants to take away your emotional garbage. He wants to restore your soul. How does He do that?  

He does that when you allow Him to make changes in your life that contribute to emotional instability. 2 things in particular

1. GUILT

Nothing destroys a soul faster than guilt. Ps. 38:4 and 6- “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear… I am bowed down and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.”  

There are two problems with guilt.

1. By nature we carry guilt in our lives.
2. We can’t get away from it. It’s in our mind. Even if we go to a new location we carry a guilty conscious with us. Prov. 20:27 -“The Lord gave us a mind and a conscience. We cannot hide from ourselves.”

Guilt can cause depression and psychiatric and other physical problems.

How do people generally deal with the guilt in their life?

(*You can deny it, pretend it doesn’t exist. Try to bury the past.

  * You can minimize it by telling yourself, “It was no big deal, not that big of a sin.”

* You can compromise it by lowering your standards. If you feel guilty about something you just say “I don’t believe it’s wrong anymore.

*Some blame themselves and some may even hurt themselves as a result.)

None of these things work. There is only one solution to your guilt. You’ve got to give it to God. He’s the only One who can remove it.

Romans 3:23-24 “All of us have sinned… yet God declares us `not guilty’ IF we trust in Jesus Christ, who in mercy freely takes away our sins.” The most basic truth of Christianity is Jesus Christ has already paid for all of your sins. Everything you’ve ever done wrong has already been paid for.

Just accept it. That’s how your guilt will be removed. No psychologist can remove your guilt; they don’t have the power to forgive you. I don’t know what you’ve done but it doesn’t matter because your forgiveness is not based on how bad you’ve been, but how good God is.

If you feel guilty about a sin you’ve already confessed to God and still feel guilty about it, that guilt is not from God, it’s from the devil. He wants you to feel bad, to continue to feel uptight. Before you commit a sin, Satan minimizes the sin- “It’s no big deal”. After you commit the sin he says, “This sin is so big, God could never forgive you!” (Anon).

2. GRUDGES

You’re going to be hurt in life; that’s a fact of life. Life isn’t fair. People will hurt you. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. Either way, it still hurts. How you handle the resentments of life determine whether you are a bitter person or a better person.

The difference between bitter and better is the letter “I”. (Molly Milroy) I make the choice. I can choose whether the circumstance will devastate me or direct me on to a new path.

Resentment never hurts the other person. It only hurts you.

“You’re only hurting yourself with your anger.” Job 18:4

What do you do with your grudges?

Romans 12:19 “Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for He has said He will repay those who deserve it.” 

Ps 23:3a- “he restores my soul.” Let Jesus be your Shepherd and your Saviour!