Tag Archive - Sin

Washed Away

April 5, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

 Paper is such a common item today. Writing paper is inexpensive. Notepads are given away by businesses. We rarely concern ourselves with throwing away or recycling paper.

This was not always the case. In Biblical times, paper as we know it didn’t exist. Parchment was the most common used material used for writing documents. However, it was expensive. It was made from animal skins, but it was not tanned as is leather.
Because of its expense, it was often used multiple times. This was made possible because the inks of that day did not contain acid as inks today. Therefore, all one needed to do in order to reuse a parchment was to wash off the ink and let the parchment dry.

This was often done when a debt was paid. The debt was simply washed away. The record was cancelled.

What a picture of what God does with us. In Isaiah 43:25, Isaiah writes the words of God, “I—yes, I alone—am the one who blots out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” (NLT)

And centuries later, Peter, after being filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke these words, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, ” (Acts 3:19, NIV84)

The message is simple. Jesus took the record of our sins and wiped it clean. When we trust in Him, we are forgiven. Our sins are washed away.

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New Blood, New Life

March 17, 2011 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

. Demi-Lee Brennan

In January, 2008, a story made the rounds about a 15-year-old girl in Australia named Demi-Lee Brennan. Brennan became the world’s first known transplant patient to change blood types from O negative to O positive, taking on the immune system of her organ donor. Her body’s ability to accept a new liver – and then produce new blood cells on its own – has left doctors mystified.

The rare phenomenon now means Demi-Lee no longer has to take a cocktail of anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life.

The blood stem cells in Brennan’s new liver invaded her body’s bone marrow, taking over her entire immune system. She now has an entirely different kind of blood—blood that welcomes life, rather than carrying death.
“It’s like my second chance at life,” Brennan says.*

Demi-Lee’s doctors call her change “a miracle.” A transplant not only extended her life, but changed it. The transplant transformed her basic source of life.

There is another miracle of which we need to be aware. As human beings, we are under a death sentence. We have broken the holy law of God and we are condemned to consequences of our actions. Yet, because of the cross of Christ, we have hope. His blood has been applied to our lives. His sacrifice was not just a legal transaction that sets us right. It is even more. It enters in to our lives and changes our very being.

His blood not only is exchanged for ours, but his blood transforms the very DNA of our lives. He didn’t just fix us, He changed us.

That’s truly a miracle.

Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.”   (Hebrews 9:14, NLT)

*sources:
 
 

 

www.reuters.com and www.news.com.au

   

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The Joy of Forgiveness

May 18, 2010 in Daily Faith with 0 Comments

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

According to an often told story, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series, once decided to play a practical joke on twelve of his friends. To each he sent an anonymous telegram that simply read, “Flee at once . . . all is discovered.”
Within twenty-four hours, all twelve had fled the country.   Evidently, they all had something to hide.

Most of us do have something to hide.  We have some secret we don’t want discovered?  We have regrets, real and imagined.  We’ve made bad choices.  We live hoping that all will never be discovered.  Guilt tugs at our souls, nags our minds and saps our spirits.  In fact, I’m convinced that most of us live lives robbed of peace and joy because of this.  What can we do?
There are just two answers.  One,  we can go on just as we’ve been doing.  Hoping that we can keep up appearances.  Hoping that no one will find out.  Letting our past drain our present and future of joy.  Or two, we can confess to God and receive His forgiveness. The first answer fails miserably, the second is our only hope.
God doesn’t want you to live in guilt and shame.  He doesn’t want your life empty of peace and joy.  He wants you to live in the joy of forgiveness.  He wants to free you from the chains of the past so that you can experience the fullness of His life today.

“If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.”
1 John 1:8-9 (NLT)