Lent is an invitation to experience the blessings Christ has provided for us through his life, death and resurrection. Each Wednesday morning during Lent, members of our CAC pastoral transition team will provide a brief devotional to help our church family reflect on God’s love for us as expressed through the work of Jesus. It is only as we trust in and experience God’s love for us that we can live with peace and have love to give to our family, to our friends and even to our enemies.
The best place to dip our toes into the ocean of God’s love on this first day of Lent is in reconciliation and forgiveness. The Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in the city of Corinth, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.” (2 Corinthians 5:19 NIV). How beautiful are those words! Because of Christ’ death on the cross for us, God is not counting our sins against us. Before Christ’s work for us, we were not children of God. We were not friends of God. We were not even distant citizens of God’s kingdom. Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, “while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.” (Romans 5:10 NIV) We don’t like to think of ourselves as enemies of God, but that’s what we were … and yet the Father gave his Son to die for us. Jesus echoed the Father’s heart when on the cross, he prayed for his enemies who had just nailed him to the cross and who were currently mocking him, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:33 NIV).
God doesn’t just look the other way and ignore our sin and act like it doesn’t matter. We do not receive forgiveness because our good outweighs our bad. The Father put our sin on Jesus. According to the prophet Isaiah, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him.” (Isaiah 53:5 NIV). The wages of our sin was death (Romans 6:23) and we should have paid that price. Instead, Jesus paid the wages of our sin for us. Jesus’ last words on the cross were, “It is finished.” (John 19:30). What was finished? The payment and punishment of our sin was finished. All of our sins were nailed to the cross with Jesus! Our debt of sin was paid in full!
Everyone who places their trust in Jesus is completely forgiven. Thankfully, the Lord “does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” (Psalm 103:10 NIV). Now, through Jesus, we can live with confidence that “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12 NIV).
The Father is not counting your sins against you. He has completely removed your sin from you and gave ALL OF IT to Jesus. Hear the voice of Jesus calling you to believe that God has erased all record of your sin. All of your past and present sins and even the sins you will still commit in the future, were placed on Jesus. Let this sink in. Embrace the freedom of forgiveness through Jesus.
Scripture readings this week
- February 22 – John 8:48-59
- February 23 – John 9:1-12
- February 24 – Exodus 4
- February 27 – John 9:13-41
- February 28 – John 10:1-21