When Jesus is invited into your life, His sacrificing love covers your sins. So now when you sin (and you will), ask Him to forgive you, just like you would do with anyone else who you hurt or wrong. 1 John 1:9 tells us that “if we confess (freely admit) our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
He is faithful. He already knows the worst of your mistakes, even things that you don’t know yet about yourself, and he accepts you as beloved because He promised He would. You can read about His incredible viewpoint of you in Ephesians 1 (below).
Also, He is just. The law demands that transgression must be paid for with blood sacrifice (Hebrews 9:22 – “In fact, the law requires that …. without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”). Jesus did that very thing by choosing to die on the cross in your place. He is the only man who had the option to choose death (rather than it being inevitable) because He had never sinned. Sin is the cause of death, so He had an escape – a ‘get out of jail free’ card. Instead He chose to die on your behalf. So God forgives us not only because he is faithful to his promises of love, but because he is bound by the very justice that He set in place. The price has been paid. It does not need to be paid twice, even if we could do it. Our Savior took our place and now we are free from the penalty and even the guilt of our sin. That is something to be thankful about!
Ephesians 1:3-6 jbp
“Praise be to God for giving us through Christ every possible spiritual benefit as citizens of Heaven! For consider what he has done—before the foundation of the world he chose us to become, in Christ, his holy and blameless children living within his constant care. He planned, in his purpose of love, that we should be adopted as his own children through Jesus Christ—that we might learn to praise that glorious generosity of his which has made us welcome in the everlasting love he bears towards the Son.”
So what does it look like to follow Jesus?
Sometimes things get difficult
God is good. ~ He has made us part of an eternal kingdom where righteousness will be the rule and all the brokenness we see now will be gone. Until then He comes alongside us in our joys and sufferings and daily life. He has given us a destiny and the chance to bring light into our little corner of the world. Look at how the apostle Paul prayed, especially the personal letters. “I always thank God for you, Philemon, in my constant prayers for you all, for I have heard how you love and trust both the Lord Jesus himself and those who believe in him. And I pray that those who share your faith may also share your knowledge of all the good things that believing in Jesus Christ can mean to us.” Yes, believing may not change your circumstances but it sure can change your attitude about them. It is a joy to belong to Jesus – He is a good shepherd!
BUT
When life is hard, it is easy to start wondering if God really cares. Maybe you’ve even found yourself thinking something like: Jesus, don’t you care that my child is sick? Don’t you care that I have no money? Don’t you care that I feel so alone? You might even ask yourself, “ What did I do to deserve this?“ Maybe you think you are being punished. But God isn’t mad at you, and he’s not punishing you for your mistakes or your past. Bad things happen, because God is still in the process of making all things new. We live in a world that has been bent by sin alongside of broken people like ourselves. We still experience loss, pain, fear, and trauma – but that doesn’t change God’s intentions and desire for a relationship with us. Maybe you’re believing a lie that’s pulling you away from the God who loves you. You can replace the lies with his truth, and remember that no matter what you’re going through, Jesus is with you, and nothing can separate you from his love. He is the light at the end of the tunnel, and time will show His care for us even if we can’t feel it right now.
Here is a resource that might be helpful when you feel sad. Click on the balloon.
salt-shaker.blog 