“I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.” Isaiah 44:22
I’m a sinner. I know it, and Romans 3:23 confirms it. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” When it comes to my sins, I remember a lot of them. Some I could write about, but others, I would never dare to put into print. I suppose you could say those are my secret sins. They are the sins that shame me. The ones I wish never happened; the ones that I can’t seem to forget; the ones I’ve hidden from everyone.
Except God.
I can’t hide my sins from God. He knows about them all. Every single one of them. And in His sight, the “little” ones are just as heinous as the “big” ones. Any one of them is enough to keep me from God and His heaven. When perfect holiness is the standard, even a little white lie is enough to condemn me or anyone else. Seems hopeless, doesn’t it? But it’s not. Why? Because the Bible tells me that God loves me and you! (Jeremiah 31:3)
Romans 5:8 states, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” I love this verse! It tells me that no matter how vile a sinner I am, God still loves me with that everlasting love of which the prophet Jeremiah wrote. God still found value in us, and that’s the reason He chose to sacrifice His only Son, so that we might have eternal life with Him! “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
The Bible tells me, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). When I think about my life and the sins that I so easily embraced, it overwhelms me to think that the all-knowing God of heaven loves me so much that He allowed His Son, Jesus, to take the punishment for my sins on the chance that I would one day understand my need for a Saviour and bow before Him begging for forgiveness. But I did understand, and I did beg for His forgiveness. And He gave it!
Today, I still remember some of my past sins, but I know God doesn’t remember them anymore (Hebrews 10:17). In God’s mind, my sins have been completely eradicated from my life’s history. I believe that when I’m in heaven, I, too, will remember them no more because I have chosen to accept Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, acknowledging Him as Lord and Saviour of my life, and He has forgiven me of every single sin – past, present, and future! Since I’ve been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, I know when I’m with Jesus in heaven, there will be no more sadness or tears for me!
If you’ve never experienced God’s forgiveness of sin, all you need to do is believe that Jesus, God’s Son, died on the cross, taking upon Himself the punishment for your sins, and ask Him to forgive you for those sins, and save you! The Bible states in Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” You can call upon Him today, and He will save you!
One future day, I know I’ll see Jesus in heaven, and I will also see His scars from when He was on the cross. Only then will I be able to grasp in full what He did for me so long ago. I am, and will forever be, grateful to be a sinner saved by grace.
Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.
There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the blood of the Lamb.
There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
(from “There is Power in the Blood” by Lewis E. Jones)
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9
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“No child of God sins to that degree as to make himself incapable of forgiveness.” – John Bunyan