“I believe the Holy Spirit inspired the men who wrote the Bible to do so at a level where every one of His dumb sheep could understand it.” — Me.
I’ve only been Born Again since 2008 — almost eighteen years — and if you asked any of my high‑school teachers, they’d tell you I have a thick skull. It takes repetition, repetition, and more repetition for truth to finally sink in.
A Quick Example
Math — especially Algebra — was a foreign language to me in high school. When my best friend and his mom talked me into enlisting in the Army during semester break of my senior year, I still needed two credits to graduate. Algebra, of course.
The Army recruiter downtown, with his honest-looking face and polished shoes, assured me I’d be able to finish those credits once I reached my permanent duty station. Out of the twenty-minute sales pitch he gave me, that turned out to be the only thing that was actually true.
One year after arriving in West Germany, I enrolled in classes on base and I completed those two credits easily. A very patient teacher explained the basics of algebra to me in about three minutes, and suddenly I felt like I had just unlocked the secrets of the universe! Later, when home computers arrived on the scene, I taught myself the BASIC Programming Language (on the Atari 400) which, ironically, was basically algebra in disguise).
I had learned that the teacher was a big Gordon Lightfoot fan. When I graduated, I gave her his newly released Greatest Hits album as a thank-you.
Climbing Out of the Rabbit Trail
My point is this: when we first come to Christ, we can be so overwhelmed by the basic, powerful truth of the Gospel — hearing it from every angle — that we either forget or completely miss its most exciting and freeing reality.
Please don’t judge me, but ever since I was saved in that hospital room on June 25, 2008, my life has taken a 180-degree turn. I’ve been set free from habitual sins that once held me in chains. I no longer take a casual view of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I can’t watch TV shows or movies that use the “F” word or drag Jesus’ name through the mud. I am a new person in Christ.
BUT…
There’s a flip side.
For eighteen years, I carried the guilt of my past life with me every single day. Almost every morning during prayer I apologize to God all over again and relive my shame. I knew the Scriptures. I knew I was forgiven — intellectually.
But it never became real to me until this morning, February 3, 2026. Pathetic? Maybe. But honest.
The Final Nail in Guilt’s Coffin
Last night I lay awake asking myself why I still felt like God was disappointed in me. Why did I feel like I was the exception to grace? Had I forgotten to confess something? Was my salvation somehow incomplete? Was that even biblical?
Apparently the Lord had heard enough of my internal whining because this morning He led me straight to a passage in Ezekiel that settled the matter once and for all:
“Tell them that as surely as I am the living LORD God, I don’t like to see wicked people die. I enjoy seeing them turn from their sins and live. So if the Israelites want to live, they must stop sinning and turn back to me.
Tell them that when good people start sinning, all the good they did in the past cannot save them from being punished. And remind them that when wicked people stop sinning, their past sins will be completely forgiven, and they won’t be punished.
Suppose I promise good people that they will live, then later they start sinning and believe they will be saved by the good they did in the past. These people will certainly be put to death because of their sins. Their good deeds will be forgotten.
Suppose I warn wicked people that they will die because of their sins, and they stop sinning and start doing right.
For example, they need to return anything they have taken as security for a loan and anything they have stolen. Then if they stop doing evil and start obeying my Law, they will live.
Their past sins will be forgiven, and they will live because they have done right.
Ezekiel, your people accuse me of being unfair. But they are the ones who are unfair.
If good people start doing evil, they will be put to death, because they have sinned.
And if wicked people stop sinning and start doing right, they will save themselves from punishment.” (Ezekiel 33:11–19)
When I finished reading, I heard in my spirit: “So there you go.”
It finally clicked. Settled. Done.
From now on, when those old lies come creeping back — the ones that whisper, “God still remembers what you did” — I will take those thoughts captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5; Colossians 2:8) and press forward (Philippians 3:13).
Because the God who forgives is the God who refuses to remember what He has forgiven.
May the God who delights in mercy quiet every accusing voice in your heart.
May the grace of Christ remind you daily that what God has forgiven, He does not revisit.
May the Holy Spirit guard your mind, strengthen your steps, and lead you into the freedom already purchased for you.
And may you walk forward — unburdened, uncondemned, and fully alive — in the joy of the One who calls you His own.
Amen.