Christian apologies to you and you and you.

     The focus of the world is upon us.  Whenever we do or don't do something the world assumes Christians should or should not do, there is the expectation for us, who call ourselves Christian, to apologize for that which we did or did not do, say or even think.  Heaven forbid we go through our day feeling like we are respectful Christians representing the Lord Jesus!  God needs no apology.  Never.  Not ever.  The God of all eternity and your and my life need not apologize for anything.  The world seems to think that God and Christianity is at fault for everything "wrong" and should be held accountable for that perceived "wrong".  I can honestly say that I have broken every commandment but one.  I have never murdered anyone.  That's not something I am proud of.  It's merely an explanation as to why Christianity and God get the bum rap.  It's my behaviors AFTER I became a Christian that either establish or refute the belief about God for those who observe me.  So, I apologize for not being perfect and for sinning which poked and broke your balloon.  Let it go.  It was me, not God.  Whenever you feel the need to apologize for your faith, don't.  It's not the Bible tells us to do.  We are told to live our Christian life in such a way that there is no need for apology.  We are told that we are more than conquerors in Christ.  We are told that we do not need to defend the Gospel in which we have hope and belief.  When we don't see the Christian life as something to apologize for; we see the Christian life for what it is...an answer to the sick world we live in. 
     William James once penned: "We may have a God in heaven that forgives us our sin but mankind does not."  I don't think that Mr. James truly understood the profound nature of his statement.  The statement is part of the problem and not part of the solution.  We are asked to believe that if mankind doesn't forgive us that we lose our ability to represent God who does forgive us.  Doesn't make sense to me either.  That doesn't take away the truth of the statement.  It allows us to make an apology for ourselves and our fellow man because we are an unforgiving lot.  Jesus said that we should forgive, even are expected to forgive, in the same manner that he forgives us.  Gulp!  I'm sorry world!  No, that's not the import of what is being said in Scripture.  The Scripture encourages and the world discourages.  Jesus asks us to forgive others as he forgives us.  He offers us grace and we need to offer grace to those who have broken the Ten Commandments (except one).  The Bible says that God takes our confessed sin (because we give it to him) and casts it into the sea of forgetfulness.  This is NOT a vacation destination!  He also says that he "remembers our sin no more."  As if that's not clear enough, we are told that he casts our sin away from himself "as far as east is to west."  Think about that.  If you travel East you never get to West.  Likewise, if you travel from West to East, you never get to East.  However, if you travel from North to South you reach an end.  What am  trying to say? 
     We need to forget as well and we need to stop apologizing for sins that are forgiven and gone.  The world expects us to keep apologizing for the same thing over and over so that we stay captive to the world as they define it.  We aren't citizens of this world.  We are travelers moving through on our way home to heaven.  As such, we are representatives of God and not of ourselves.  When I do wrong I need to make right with God by confession and repentance.  When I do wrong with man I need to make amends in like fashion.  Then it's done.  It's over.  It's gone and there is no further apology needed.  Now, here is the clincher.  We need to stop expecting those in the world to apologize to us.  If we truly have been saved and Jesus lives in us; then their sin is towards God and not me.  Secondly, we don't need to have an apology from a world that thinks what they think, say and do is right when it's wrong in our world.  While the non-believer serves the world, we serve a living breathing, loving forgiving God who forgives and doesn't ask for an apology for our sin over and over.  He doesn't remember our sin. 
     The world wants to enslave us to our past while God wants to release us into his future.  It's a choice each of us makes every day.  Choose to be released from the past.  Only you can do it.