Daily Devotionals

Your sins have been forgiven (Luke 7:48).

How often do we take this simple statement of Yeshua's for granted? Have we placed ourselves comfortably out of reach, where we no longer respond personally when we hear these words from our Redeemer? Once while counseling someone who was heart-broken by his own sin and the mess he had made of his life, I reflected on my own condition. "How am I different?" I wondered.

The prophets of old proclaimed the central achievement of Messiah: "making an end of sin" (Daniel 9:24). God has promised, "I will forgive their wickednesses and remember their sins no more" (Jeremiah 31:34[33]). "By his knowing [pain and sacrifice], my righteous servant makes many righteous" (Isaiah 53:11).

If we have forgotten the blessedness of being forgiven ("How blessed are those whose offense is forgiven, those whose sin is covered!" [Psalm 32:1]), we have drifted alarmingly off course. Our relationship with the Most High began with dramatic cleansing, atonement, and transformation from the darkness of our self-will to the light of his chosen path for us. We can only find peace in our own spirits and joy amidst the evil of the world by doing what the sin-forgiven woman did. She washed Yeshua's feet with tears of repentance and joy, anointing them with the fragrant oil of loving worship. Repenting of our sins will transform our lives every day.

...carry with me the above words of my master, who himself bore my sins. I will take deeply to heart that each of my many sins has been forgiven.

ES