Do you ever have that moment when your error feels greater
than the forgiveness you receive from that person? You are so ashamed, so
weary, and so guilty that one apology does not suffice. It might satisfy the
one hurt by your actions, but you are your own worst critic. You are not
content with the apology you gave, but your insistence that there must be more
you could do irritates the one you hurt. They command you to drop it, let it
go, and stop giving it negative attention, but you refuse. They want to move
on, but you keep digging in and bringing up what you have done. They declare it
is in the past, and they might even grab your shoulders and tell you it’s
nothing to worry about. Nothing they tell you will convince you to move on from
your misdeed.
Whether
we voice our displeasure with the mistake we made or not, admitting that we are
prone to sin and likely to make mistakes is difficult to do. To some degree, we
are all OCD about being good to others and living a mistake-free life. When we
do sin against someone, it feels like a point is being deducted from our
scoresheet. We want to make it right with others, but all too often we don’t
forgive ourselves and/or don’t feel forgiven. Criticism of ourselves comes
naturally to us, and it can become difficult to move on when we should.
This type of criticism is nothing
new. A long time ago, before Jesus’ time, a sinful nature meant paying a steep
price every year. The old system directed the people to sacrifice animals like
a goat or a bull in order to take away sin. The act of sacrificing an animal
was meant to provide the people with a reason to move on from the sin and live
in freedom temporarily. If sacrificing an animal could atone for sin, even
temporarily, that’s a pretty good bargain. For a guy like me, I would do
whatever I could to remind myself that I am worth more than my mistakes.
However
helpful the act of sacrificing goats and bulls was for the people, there was
one minor kink that needed to be smoothed out: atoning for sin happened one too
many times. The people were reminded every year how sinful they were. There had
to have been some level of moaning and groaning with all of the repeat
sacrificing going on. “I forgot to take care of Pumpkin this weekend! Now the
dog is dead. Time to sacrifice another goat.” The people were born into sin,
and now they had to pay for it every time? Maybe that’s not such a good bargain
after all.
The
worst part of animal sacrifices? God did not even like that system! Take a
look:
“That is why, when
Christ came into the world, [Jesus] said to God, ‘You did not want animal
sacrifice or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. You were not
pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. Then I said, ‘Look, I
have come to do your will O God – as is written about me in the Scriptures’”
(Hebrews 10:5-7).
So, God did just that; He sent someone to atone for all sin for all time. Jesus became the High
Priest and “offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time” (Hebrews 10:12). In
other words, there no longer needed to be a priest who “stands and ministers
before the alter day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins” (Hebrews
10:11). Remembrance of our sin has already been canceled out because of a
one-time sacrifice that actually works.
Jesus came not just to cancel our sin, but to give us a reason to never
remember it again. All debts have been paid, and no bull or goat is needed to
be slain to forgive us.
It
sounds like a pretty simply pill to swallow. When Jesus was that sacrifice,
good for all time, we don’t need a bull or a goat to sacrifice. Simple concept,
right? While it is certainly a simple concept, we don’t live like it. Though
most of us do not have a physical bull to sacrifice, the metaphorical bull
rests on our shoulders the same way. We have the mindset that we owe something
to God to balance out our sin. Carrying our burden and strapping the bull to
our back, we drag our feet to the top of the mountain. Then, we throw the bull
to the alter, wearily crying to the heavens, “Take my bull! I am a sinner. I am
unworthy to be yours. Here is my sacrifice!”
You must stop dragging your feet!
Put down that bull and come down from that mountain! Lift your praise to God!
The High Priest came, and he represents hope and an Old Covenant forgotten.
Your burdens are no more, brother. Your sin has been removed, sister. Your
Father and Savior says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless
deeds” (Hebrews 10:17).
Use the
time spent sulking about your sin and making up for your misdeed and instead
praise Jesus for what he has already done.
Recognize that you are a “new creation, the old is gone and the new has come”
(2 Corinthians 5:17) and live in the promise that “if we confess (acknowledge)
our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:9). We do not need to be reminded of our sin
when we have a High Priest to cleanse us of them. All we have to do is
acknowledge our sin, admit that we need his grace, kindness, and mercy, and our
sins will be atoned for, once for all
time.
After all, this is the Gospel and this is the Truth.
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