Your Sins Are Gone, So Let It Go

Think of the worst sin you have ever committed. Do you have it in mind? Do you remember the specifics of the sin — what you were thinking and how you were feeling when you committed it?

Now think of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, his brow, feet and hands pierced and bleeding. His head hangs in agony. You are standing at the foot of the cross when He lifts His head and looks you directly in the eyes. He looks deeply into your eyes and you into His. You feel the love emanating from His gaze, then He speaks: “I love you, my child. I know about your worst sin. I know every detail. I know about all your sins. I absorbed all your sins into Myself. I've taken them away. They are gone - forever. I have forgiven you. I have forgiven you; now forgive yourself and let’s forget this sin and agree to never mention it again."

If it were possible for a moment to move beyond the restraints of this dimension we call “time” and see the cross from the eternal perspective, that is what we would hear Jesus say. All is well. Your sins are forgiven forever. You are immersed in Divine Grace and that's all there is to it.

Robert Capon said it well:

Trust him. And when you have done that, you are living the life of grace. No matter what happens to you in the course of that trusting — no matter how many waverings you may have, no matter how many suspicions that you have bought a poke with no pig in it, no matter how much heaviness and sadness your lapses, vices, indispositions, and bratty whining may cause you — you simply believe that Somebody Else,by his death and resurrection, has made it all right, and you just say thank you and shut up. The whole slop-closet full of mildewed performances (which is all you have to offer) is simply your death; it is Jesus who is your life. If he refused to condemn you because your works were rotten, he certainly isn’t going to flunk you because your faith isn’t so hot. You can fail utterly, therefore, and still live the life of grace. You can fold up spiritually, morally, or intellectually and still be safe. Because at the very worst, all you can be is dead — and for him who is the Resurrection and the Life, that just makes you his cup of tea.

That, my friend, is the gospel of Jesus Christ.