I remember walking to one of my evening classes at UCF, which was rare for me. I always avoided evening classes if I could. They always ran way too long and I always grew tired during long winded and bland power point presentations.
But I remember getting a pamphlet on the gospel and forgiveness. Being new to the faith, receiving little booklets on the gospel were the highlight of my day. I was so greedy to learn and getting those little pamphlets on campus every now and then were a treat.
I remember the booklet saying something to the effect of confessing our sins to God so that we could be forgiven. And I thought, “well I’ve sinned a whole lot in the last 20 years. How am I suppose to remember everything to ask forgiveness for?”
Sure big things like lying or stealing erasers in the 1st grade I remember, but what about all of the things that I didn’t remember?
I decided to ask God to bring to my remembrance anything that I may have forgotten so that I may be forgiven for it. How crazy does that sound?
To be honest I felt defeated and deflated as soon as I asked. I had no hope that I would remember everything and surely I was going straight to hell if I had any sin that I hadn’t asked forgiveness for. I couldn’t enter the pearly gates with spots and wrinkles and blemishes.
At the time, I knew what Christ had done on the cross for me, but I didn’t understand what his death and resurrection meant in regards to my life, sin and forgiveness.
When Jesus obeyed God and allowed himself to be tortured and crucified, it was because there needed to be a perfect sacrifice to atone for all of our sins. When Jesus died, our Father (God) made sure that his death would atone for every single sin that we have ever committed and will ever commit in our lives. How amazing is that?
I will admit that when I first got saved I was very hard on myself and If I’m being honest perfectionism still tries to get the best of me sometimes. So before I understood what Christ’s death and resurrection really meant for me as a believer, I felt like I was never going to be good enough. I would never remember all my sins and because I am human I would probably add more sins to the list.
And you know what? I was right. I would never be good enough and I would never remember all of my sins, but God in all of his awesome power is GOOD and through Christ’s death on the cross I can stand before God without spot, wrinkle or blemish.
He knew that I would never remember all of my sins as he was tortured and he knew that I would never be perfect when he died. And that’s why he died. But things get even sweeter for us who believe. Jesus rose again in three days time and returned to live in the kingdom of Heaven at the right hand of God. And what do you think he’s doing there now?
Interceding on our behalves! Jesus is pleading with the father, taking up for us and making sure that the reconciliation that his death created between us and God is alive and well.
Not only is he sitting in the highest place of honor interceding on our behalves, but as we live our lives here on earth we are not obligated to sin anymore or struggle with doing the right thing. The Holy Spirit is living on the inside of us, prompting us to make godly decisions, helping us navigate through life and comforting us in times of need.
God literally thought of everything and has truly set us up for success in this life so that we may celebrate in eternity over his son Jesus and his goodness, mercy and grace toward us.
Looking back now, maybe the pamphlet was meant for someone with more of an understanding of the gospel. Just because Jesus has died for all of our sins, doesn’t mean that we are not to repent and and ask for forgiveness when we’ve done something that we knew would cause us to sin against God.
It’s almost like adding insult to injury. Deeply hurting someone and then pretending as if it didn’t happen or trying to continue your relationship without asking their forgiveness or making amends is detrimental. We don’t want to take advantage of those in our lives who care about us and we most certainly don’t want to take advantage of God’s mercy and grace covering our lives.
So be encouraged!
Know that God loves you and desires for you to be with him in heaven for all of eternity when your life is over on this earth. He has sent the Holy Spirit for us to have as an intimate guide through life and he and his son Jesus are always here for us as well!
Have a great day!
I love you!
Amber
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