24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:24-25)
When Jesus was on the cross, He bore my sins. He carried them. Every stubborn, foolish, stupid, selfish thought, decision, and action I have every made was placed on Jesus. He bore them all…all mine, all yours. It is a wild thought. I wasn’t even born yet. My great-great-great-great grandfather wasn’t even thought of yet. But Jesus bore my sins. They are paid for. They are covered. There is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Wow. I no longer have to live in guilt or fear. My sins…all of them…are forgiven.
Why did Jesus do this? Out of love. To save us from eternal condemnation. And Peter says, “…So that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.” Jesus saved us from sin…not only to give us eternal life but also to free us from the bondage and deception of sin in this life and enable us to live in righteousness.
We are so deceived. Deep down we still think that sin has some good elements to it. It is fun, enticing, exciting. Let the eyes linger a little longer. What’s the harm? Let the thought circulate in the mind a little longer. It doesn’t hurt anyone. We flirt with sin all the time because we have no idea how ugly it is, how deceptive it is, how destructive it is. Jesus says, “Look at my beaten body. Look at my stripes. Look at my pain. Look at my disfigurement. This is what sin does to your soul. Look at me and then live for righteousness.”
Imagine it this way…we were in massive debt. We had creditors everywhere. We had people knocking on our door ready to take everything from us. Every wage we had ever earned or would ever earn was going into a bottomless bucket of debt. We had no hope of escaping the hole. In fact, with every day, the hole got deeper and deeper. We were stressed, depressed, and hopeless. Death seemed like a better option than life. Then a relative came to our house one day and, out of love, offered to pay everything off. He sacrificed all he had to pay every one of our creditors off. When he was done, he turned to us and said, “You are totally free from debt. Now go live in freedom.”
Only a fool would turn around and go right back to spending recklessly. Only someone who had no idea of the bondage of debt or no sense of the love of the sacrificing relative would take advantage of this situation to selfishly spend more. Instead a wise person, a truly grateful person, a humbled person would deeply love and appreciate the sacrifice of the relative, celebrate the freedom, and live responsibly (avoiding debt) and generously (sharing the blessings that they had received).
That is what Jesus has done for us.
Now that we have returned to the Shepherd, to the Lover and Guardian of our souls, we should no longer seek to go astray.
Thank You, Lord, for the freedom of forgiveness! May I live in gratitude, joy, and generosity today.
