'Reconciliation can only happen when there is a first an acknowledgment that wrongs were done, then feelings of remorse over the sin which trapped us and caused harm to another, then repentance and a turning away from ever doing that again.'
Any reconciliation that takes place with our brother or in a marriage must come from the reconciliation that we have with God through the sacrifice of His Son. Can any believer boast that they have been reconciled to God and since that time of that reconciliation have never sinned? I don't think so! Can anyone who has had remorse or godly sorrow for their sin claim that they have never sinned since the time of their remorse? I don't think so! Can anyone confess with their tongue before a Holy God that since the time of their repentance that they have been without sin? I do not think that it is possible living in the bodies that we have here on the earth at present. If a believer understands that the old sin nature resides in the members of their own body and that they always have a potential to sin because of it, they would never make a promise to God or anyone else that they would never sin or do it again. To make a statement like that shows a measure of ignorance in understanding the nature of God and boy is that essential.
Does anyone think that you can train and discipline and teach the old sin nature not to sin? Isn't the old sin nature in man by definition a nature that produces sin? Can't the old sin nature produce sin involuntarily as well as voluntarily? Every time the old sin nature spits out sin are we to acknowledge that sin and feel remorseful so that we can truly repent and promise we will never do it again? And when we do it again do we go through the same process or live in the guilt and shame that we truly did not repent the first time or really did not mean it? That is a bunch of poppycock and it is not how we deal with personal sin in our life. Where is the grace of God in all this and the acknowledgment of what Christ did to the sin?
