Got a Bungee Cord?

Imagine climbing up the face of a rocky mountain, the summit scarcely visible through the clouds. Your task is made more difficult by a thick bungee cord tied around your waist and anchored at the base camp.

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The harder you press upward, the tighter the cord grows, the pressure mounting with every step. One slip and you'll go zinging right back down where you started.

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When we try to approach God on our terms, it can feel like climbing a mountain with a bungee cord pulling us backward.

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That bungee cord is unconfessed sin.

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Satan has a host of tired but effective suggestions to dissuade us from bringing our sin before the Lord. He knows quite well God offers forgiveness, but he also knows how many Christians don't realize it.

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It was so long ago, God has forgotten it...

It was such a little thing...

It wasn't as bad as what some people do...

Everyone else was doing it too... If I can move on, God can too...

I'll just start fresh from here.

No sense digging into the past...

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There are other variations on the theme, but the results are the same. The thick curtain that separates you from the presence of God stays in place and no amount of dutiful activity quite removes it. Human effort kicks into high gear and we do everything we can think of to impress God, except the very thing He requires: repentance.

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If you're struggling with the feeling that there exists a vast canyon between you and God, you may be right. When you set aside all the excuses you've been relying on for so long, God will clearly show you the shovel you've been using to dig that canyon. All it takes is a humble, willing heart and God does the rest.

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God is not bound by time. A sin in your past is a sin in the present to God, if it has never been taken to the Cross and paid for.

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So what's lurking in your past? That unconfessed sin of the past may be the very thing that is keeping the warmth and favor of God out of your present.

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The amazing part is that once sin is gone and your heart is clean before God, the very bungee cord that held you back, reverses direction. It is now attached to the top of the mountain and your trip to God is effortless.

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