Jesus said to them, "I am telling you the truth: everyone who sins is a slave of sin ... If the Son sets you free, then you will be really free." John 8:34,36, GNT

 

I don’t accept gifts easily. I always wonder what I have done to deserve it. The idea that Jesus paid my debt – that my sin was forgiven by grace alone – it blows my mind.

 

And yet, through the working of the Holy Spirit, I believe the words in 1 John 1:9: "But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing."

 

For many of us, it is sometimes hard to believe that our sin has been completely forgiven. Firstly, we have been legally forgiven. Jesus says in Matthew 5:17: "Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true." Jesus has legally paid our debt.

 

God does not forgive in batches. Each of us who has confessed our sin has been forgiven personally! Read the story of the lost son in Luke 15 and especially verse 20: "So he got up and started back to his father. He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms round his son, and kissed him." Close your eyes and put yourself in that boy’s shoes. This is how the Father forgives us when we confess our sin.

 

Unfortunately, we still struggle against the temptations of this world. However, God’s grace is so great that he constantly forgives us. In the Bible, there are numerous examples of his children who stumbled. He forgave them and used them in his service – like Moses who doubted (Exodus 3), David who committed adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11), and Peter who denied Jesus (Matthew 26) are only a few examples.

 

I remember the day I read Romans 6:6 for the first time: "And we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on his cross, in order that the power of the sinful self might be destroyed, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin." I have been crucified with Christ. I am a new person. He forgives me as a person and also forgives my sins. I am truly free!

 

I believe in the forgiveness of sins.

 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to live in the knowledge that we are dead to sin, are one with Christ Jesus and live for you alone. Amen