Redeemed and Forgiven
Ephesians 1:7-8 In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.
Sometimes I manage to stuff things up really badly. I’m sure you do too. We don’t mean to. We don’t set out to make a hash of things. We just do.
And when we do, there’s this overwhelming sense of shame and regret. It’s like a dark cloud that hangs over your life; a millstone around your neck that makes it almost impossible to lift your head and look at God.
Before Jesus walked into my life and put His arms around me, the accumulation of all the bad things I’d done was just the darkest cloud you can ever imagine. The millstone around my neck was impossibly heavy.
I’d always been proud of the fact that I’d been successful at everything I’d turned my hand to. But now, it felt as though I’d failed at the most important thing of all – life itself. How could I possibly go to God when things were this bad, when my life was such a mess, when I absolutely knew, that I was in serious trouble? How could I?!
I’m guessing you know that feeling too, where you want to go to God and ask for forgiveness, but your instinctive reaction is to go run and hide like Adam and Eve, as though that worked so well for them.
It’s because we’re ashamed. It’s because we’re discouraged. It’s because we’re afraid. But if God’s love is perfect – and it is –why do we want to run and hide?
Answer: because deep down, we still don’t understand grace. Deep down, this grace thing is so radical, that when we need it most, we just don’t get it.
In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:7-8)
You see, grace isn’t just something that God gives us. It’s not something that He dolls out, a little bit to you, a little bit to him, a little bit to her over there, but that guy there, oh no, none for you, you’ve been a bad boy. That’s not how it works.
The riches of His grace is something that God lavishes on us. That word “lavish” is such an over the top word. A word of abundance. A word of overflow. And did you notice the tense of that verb – it’s not future tense, it’s past tense. He has already forgiven you, He has already lavished the riches of His grace on you.
No matter how deeply mired our lives are in sin, no matter how much we’ve failed, no matter how guilty we feel, how much of a failure we see when we look in the mirror – we have already been forgiven. The riches of His grace have already been lavished on us; on you.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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