Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God – Romans 3:35.
A personal sin may be commission (doing something prohibited) or omission (failing to do what is required of us). It may also express itself in either an act or attitude. Propitiation is God’s act motivated by His immense love, whereby He accepts the blood of Christ as the completed and satisfying sacrifice for all human sin that will establish a means of reconciliation between God and man.
One of the most difficult things for people to do is overcome the past. Mental health providers, social service and psychiatric practitioners, as well as the religious community, will attest to the fact that “issues from the past continue to reverberate and ricochet into the presence of most people’s lives, causing a whole range of consequences from toxic relationships to emotional handicaps to even physical illness.
Guilt and shame from the past have to be released. God has promised healing and wholeness for our lives. This is critical, for without the release of the past, people will continue to lead lives filled with pain that is masked but never eliminated. It’s like taking medicine to eradicate the symptoms of a disease but never being healed of the disease itself.
Internal conflict related to the past is nowhere more critical than in the lives of women. More women seem to be afflicted with the burden of the unforgettable and unforgivable past because we make up the largest percentage of the church. In addition, women are more likely to have certain burdens of the past because society has had a “double standard” of conduct and behavior for women, and women who have “missed the mark” have had their own as well as society’s condemnation to live with.
The church should be a place where the world’s system does not intrude. Unfortunately, judgment is too often made about our sisters in Christ, relegating them to positions of inferiority and failure based on subjective criteria. They are “disqualified ” from leadership, service, ministry, and even full participation in the life of the church based on their past experiences, failures, poor decisions, ethnicity, and education.
Women are coming to the church broken and in despair; it’s the responsibility of women who are Christians to rally around them to make them welcome rather than making them feel as though they’re a dreaded disease. Ninety-eight percent of women have felt rejection in one form or another and are very much aware that it doesn’t feel good, but yet when we see one that comes into the church that looks as though they may have been a lady of the night or they may not dress to our expectation, they are shunned by other women of the church.
As Christian women, we should rally around them, make them feel welcome, and be mentors. If their dress attire isn’t up to part, we should donate some of our clothes to them if they wear our sizes. Most women have clothes they haven’t worn for years and will never wear, but we keep them rather than donating them to a worthy cause. Many Christian women are in church, bleeding from wounds of the past, but don’t have anyone they can confide in because they will receive judgment and criticism as being talked about.
Christian women and other women, whether they Christian women or not, should be able to confide in us as well as receive godly counseling (The aged women [aged or length of time being a Christian] likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things. That they may teach [admonish] young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. To be discreet, chaste keepers [homemakers] good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed – Titus 2:3-5).
Women need women they can trust and confide in, those who will pray in agreement with them, and those who will fast until they see the person receive a breakthrough in their issues and dilemmas. Many of the women coming to church didn’t have anyone to teach them or instruct them. As Christian women, as God has given us wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, we should pour it into another woman.
For a person to feel comfortable around us, we must be approachable; we must not be busybodies and gossipers. Women are hurting, and they need other women to confide in and to help them walk through their past to get to their future. As Christian women, we should be there to help them release their guilt and shame, assist them in leaving the past and stepping into their presence, and look forward to their future.