God's Treasured Reward

Do not allow it to weigh down your feet, keeping you from taking those steps to come before the cross of Christ receiving His forgiveness.

See how much God loves you by how much He suffered for you by taking your punishment upon the cross, and by this demonstrating therefore how much you are a reward to Him. That He glories in the victory that He gets over your life overcoming that darkness, destroying the works of the devil, and even more so the more the darkness there was.

You are His treasure, you are His reward for that suffering He did, that pain and all that sacrificial work He did to bring men to God. Think about something or someone in your life that you have suffered and sacrificed for, how much more does God think about you for what He did upon the cross? So do not let your past overcome you from coming to the one who overcame the world. The one who says:

"Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18),

and,

"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind" (Isaiah 65:17).

The devil wants us to get entangled in our past, to create a stronghold in our mind in this world where linear time exists, and to not think about the promises of God of how this world, once over, will not even come to mind, and that for eternity! And to those who have received Christ into their lives and have gotten victory over the devil,

When the devil reminds you of your past, let him know that instead it is a reminder to him displaying the power that he lacks, and the victory that you have over him through Jesus Christ.

God glories in receiving you into His kingdom, and those in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents:

"Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He spoke this parable to them, saying:

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance" (Luke 15:1-7).

"And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

So he said, “Teacher, say it.”

"There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

Simon answered and said, 'I suppose the one whom he forgave more.'

And He said to him, 'You have rightly judged.' Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, 'Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little'" (Luke 7:40-47).

So you can see that something beautiful can come from more darkness in our past, that it may in turn cause us to love the Lord more than those who have had little darkness, and God desires us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. So in turn, the greater the darkness, the greater potential there is to convert into more love towards God in which He delights in.

Of course, this is not something to preplan, but if this is how your life turned out, and you've received the Lord, then rejoice in this, rather then to perceive it as something to weigh on your conscious throughout your life, that those who lived a more righteous life should be sought after. So rejoice in this, be full of joy, for in the world to come, God says, as previously stated, that this world will not even come to mind, so why dwell in these thoughts that the devil wants us to be consumed by? We have an unbelievable future in Christ.

Think of the position where the devil once was before he fell, how great that fall was? There is no grace for the devil. We can imagine how much he wants us to lose what he lost, for he in time past dwelt in heaven, he knows what great of a reward awaits those who truly love Jesus Christ.