I believe it worthy of note that we are ALL sinners saved by the grace of God. Simply stated, from God's 'point of view,' those 'little white lies' we were guilty of having previously comitted are on the same level as that of willfully taking the life of another, or a host of other wicked deeds. Likewise, homosexuality is no more or less sin than murder, adultery, lying, stealing, or a host of other things which God intensely abhors.
I was 48+ years old when I heard of the glorious life saving (and changing) message of eternal salvation which Jesus Christ made posssible for me by His death, burial and resurrection. And when I first read the apostle Paul's words to Timothy, wherein he professed to have once been the
"chief" sinner (see
I Timothy 1:15), this thought entered my mind:
"Wow! Imagine that; my name would have appeared in the Bible had Paul known me, for surely the sins he had been guilty of comitting prior to his conversion could never have equalled mine! Had he known me, and the many sinful things I had done he would have had to written to Timothy that 'Beside that scoundrel Don Evans, I am the chief sinner."
I state these things to you, Houston, so that I might say this. While you state that you 'were' guilty of having once participated in homosexuality, but have refrained from it during the past six years, when you obeyed the dictates of
Acts 2:38, and became 'born again of the water and of the Spirit,' you became a new creature in Christ. But while God no longer holds such wicked deeds to you account, know for a certainity that the enemy does, and he will forevermore seek to remind you of them. However, please be mindful of these words recorded in
Romans 8:1 -
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Therefore I can only encourge you to be aware of the source from which whatever condemnation you may be experiencing originates: they come from none other than the enemy, who continually accuses God's chosen ones (see
Revelation 12:10).
No one presently among the living is without trials which continually 'tests' our faith in God and His wondrous promises. And none who have chosen to follow the example set forth for us by Christ Jesus are so pious that we are beyond the enemy's efforts to draw us back into his wicked ways. As long as we are resident in these fleshy bodies we each must confront, and overcome, its desires which are contrary to the Spirit (see
I Peter 2:11).
In closing, I would urge you to be mindful of this: The sins of your past are no greater than mine, or any other member of this forum. We were ALL at one time sinners, separated from God and destined to an eternity with Satan and his wicked band in the eternal flames. But thanks be to God, whose love for mankind was so great that He also inhabited a human body, experienced and was victorious over the very same lusts of the flesh which we each have been compelled to confront, but just as He was able to overcome those temptations, we who possess the same Spirit that dwelt in Him are able to do the same by reliance upon Him. As Paul so aptly expressed:
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (
Philippians 4:13)
My prayer shall be for your victory over what you perceive to be such an hinderance, but as others have already stated, in God we are more than overcomers! I urge you, as others have also done, to give your troubles to God, for He does love each of His own even beyond our imagination!
Linear Mode
