Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
Solomon said, "An evil man diggeth up evil with his lips." That is, an evil person speaks of errors in our past that Jesus has washed away from our souls and from our heavenly record in God's Book. In a conversation not long ago, Sister Natalie told me, "People can dig up that old girl, but they can't give her life. I'm alive forevermore!" How good was that comment to my heart!
If we all will think like Sister Natalie, nothing that is brought up from our sinful past will discourage us. Paul said, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature". Paul considered the person he once was to be a dead man, and himself now to be a new man, given a new start in life by Jesus. For sure, people brought up the sins that Paul once committed, but they had no power to make him live that way again. Remember this lesson, my dear friend. People may talk about the life you once lived, but they have no power to make you live that way again. In Christ, you-the person Jesus has made you-are alive forevermore!
Many who knew you while you were in sin will not be content to let that old person rest in peace in God's graveyard. They will keep trying to dig up with their tongues that old man. But no matter what they say, they cannot make that dead man live again. So ignore them, and be encouraged in the Christ who has set you free. When they surrender to his love, they will be glad you stayed happy.
Jesus has promised you eternal life on a new earth, where there will be no evil people digging with their tongues among the tombs for a person who no more exists.