“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” Ephesians 1:7-8a
The Judeo-Christian belief system is the only one that requires a blood sacrifice to forgive sin. Others believe in achieving certain stages of enlightenment which causes one to live a sinless life, yet their standards are man-made. Still others believe you are repaid in a future life for the deeds you have committed in this present life. No mention of Jesus and even with those who do, he is relegated to the status of a moral man or prophet, not at all who he claims to be. If he were truly the Son of God, then it would throw their neatly constructed system of belief into chaos. They cannot exist side by side, because they are polar opposites.
For those who have chosen to believe that God exists and the bible is truly His word, Jesus Christ is indeed God’s Son and we can without question receive forgiveness. The difference between Jews and Christians is that we have accepted Christ as the Messiah, the promised deliverer, who will remove the shackles placed on us by our own sinful behavior which started in the Garden so long ago. Jews are still waiting for him. Back in the time of Jesus they were watching and waiting for a warrior king who would strike down all who came against Israel. They were not prepared, nor were they willing to accept an infant born in a lowly manger as their deliverer. So they remain under the Law of Moses, the Ten Commandments.
In Christ, the believer has the promise of a full and forever pardon of all sins when His redemptive act on the cross is fully accepted and embraced. We are justified in the eyes of God. Those sins shall never be brought up against us again. That doesn’t give us the license to continue to sin, even though we do. Forgiveness is available to all and so even when we do sin after our initial cleansing, we can receive forgiveness for future sins for the asking. We must strive to avoid such eventualities, however, God knows us and knows that we will do those things we ought not. The key to forgiveness from our standpoint is a sincere and remorseful heart, one that is truly sorrowful for what it has committed against our Holy God. Once forgiven, we are to strive wholeheartedly to live our lives more like Christ, our example. The grace or undeserved favor that God offers us should not be spat upon by cavalier actions. We must be diligent in our efforts to please God in all we do. The word lavish means sumptuously rich, elaborate, or luxurious, very generous or extravagant. God poured His infinite, eternal grace out upon us. Once redeemed, we should be living significantly changed lives. We must never make it into a cheap thing.
Walk with the King today and be a blessing!
