Lay it Down by Bill Tell

Helping you find freedom by laying down performance-driven Christianity. There is a place for you here. Welcome.

Hiding My Sin From You (45 seconds)

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Since God allows me to bring my sin into the light with Him and only experience positive, helpful, and beneficial results…I need to love you the same way and allow you to bring your sin into the light of our relationship and allow you to experience the same beneficial results of doing that! On the other hand, if bringing my sin into the light with you means the beginning of punishment, I think I will keep it hidden and risk the possibility of getting caught.

If bringing my sin into the light with you means the beginning of discipline, and I have experienced an environment of discipline that has always been rooted in love and has been focused on my growth, my healing, and my spiritual maturity (Hebrews 12), I will bring my sin into the light with you because I know that is better than the pain and deceitfulness of hiding my sin.

Remember – we know we have found a relationship of grace when we share the worst about us and the other person moves closer and holds us tighter.

You having that kind of relationship with me helps break the power of sin in my life…because I can live in the light. A relationship of grace is the greatest gift we can ever give someone.

Resisting Sin Does Not Break it’s Power. (55 seconds)

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Lets see…if God relates to me on the basis of the life and death of Christ and not my behavior, if He does not condemn or punish me when I sin, if there is no longer any fear in my relationship with Him, and on my worst day He is head-over-heals in love with me…this means I no longer have to hide my sin from him! I can live in the light, take my masks off, stop acting and pretending, and stop trying to cover my sin with lots of good behavior.

Bringing my sin into the light with God does not harm my relationship with Him. Keeping it hidden actually harms me and puts me on a downward spiral. I John 1:8 describes this downward spiral as one of deception and untruth.

When we walk in the light (I John 1:7) we have fellowship with one another, we are cleansed from our sin, and the power of sin is broken in my life (I John 2:1). The power of sin in me always has a foothold in hiddenness.

Here is a key truth – the power of sin is not broken by my resisting…especially when I am resisting in isolation and hiding the temptation…from God and others. The longer I resist the more vulnerable I become. The solution is to step into the light with God and others. Should we resist? Absolutely. But the solution is not in the resistance, it is in the light.

My Worst Day (65 seconds)

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Okay – quick review. Because God relates to me on the basis of the life and death of Christ – and not my behavior – we have looked at four things that are true. First – my sins will never come between me and God again. Secondly, I am free from condemnation…never do I need to feel condemned again for what I do. Thirdly, God will never punish me for my sins as a believer! And then fourthly, with the elimination of punishment is the elimination of fear in my relationship with God.

Now – a fifth true reality. Because all the above is true, now on my very very most worst day – God is still head-over-heals crazy about me! My sin does not diminish His love for me…He does not distance himself…He does not loosen His grip on me. As a matter of fact, I think He grips me tighter. As Romans 8 so beautifully portrays, nothing in all of creation can separate me from the love of God…that is now based on the life of Christ…not even my sin!

So how do I know I have found a friend who treats me with grace? I know I have found such a friend when I tell them the worst there is to know about me…and they come closer to me, they hold me tighter, and they love me more. They love me just like they have experienced the love of God on their worst day. Interesting – until we experience the grace of God in the worst of our times, we cannot extend it to others in the worst of their times.