Forgiven

 

Let me paint a picture for you.

The man stood in the courtroom, fingers lightly touching the table below him. It took everything in him to breathe. One year prior, he was convicted of the brutal murder of three other individuals. And now, standing before a judge, he knows that he is fully guilty, and the only decision left to be made is whether he’s to receive the death sentence.

As he stands frozen in position, heart pumping, awaiting his sentence, he hears the judge say out of his mouth something completely and totally unexpected: “You did this crime but I’m going to remove it from your record. And as for the sentence of death, of going to the chamber, I’m going to go in your place.” The man collapses to the ground not out of fear or anguish but utter shock. As he looks at the judge, he has no words to express the gratitude, the love, the joy he feels for this act.

We listen to this story, and it feels dark—almost too dark for this devotional. But this story is our reality. Just as this man stood there and deserved death, so do we. And God knew that no amount of animal sacrifice, no spiritual act, could ever repay what death could. Jesus would have to stand in for the sinner. The perfect God became a man.

As Psalm 103 says, God forgives all our iniquity (sin). Not some, or most of it, but all. So when God looks at us, He does not see our sin, for that sin was paid for.

But Christ’s perfection doesn’t just overshadow our sin; it’s as if our sin never even existed. This is what it means to be declared “not guilty.” Like the man in the courtroom, we struggle to comprehend that our “crimes” really are completely removed from our record. But it’s true!

God has made us a completely new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We have been forgiven. We have been set free.

So when you feel shame for something you’ve done, remember: you cannot live in shame for a sin that was already paid for. When you come to the Father, come knowing you are already forgiven. Drop to your knees as the murderous man did, not out of fear or guilt but out of shear gratitude, joy and love for the One who paid for it all.