Sooner or later, sin will strip and rob you of everything that is truly beautiful and desirable. You’ve felt it. You know it. You’ve wished you hadn’t, you’ve wished you could stop, you’ve wished you weren’t like this.

But if you are a Child of God, you were redeemed to enjoy the sweet fruit of holiness—to walk in oneness with your heavenly Father, to relish His presence, to rejoice in His mercy, to experience the freedom of having clean hands, a pure heart, a clear conscience. And the promise of one day standing before Him unashamed.

Why do we sometimes choose guilt over gladness? Contemplate the pleasures and joys to be found in loving what He loves. Why settle for anything less? Anything less glad? Anything other than a Child of God?

Adapted, The Quiet Place, Nancy Leigh DeMoss

*COG: Child of God; Children of God