Tuesday, September 2, 2008

need your sins forgiven?



Wonderful Mystery
(from Our Daily Bread)
READ: Luke 23:32-43
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. —Psalm 103:12

The headline in our Grand Rapids Press wasn’t good news. Fifteen million gallons of partially treated waste water suddenly disappeared from a storage lagoon in a water treatment facility. Just outside the small town of Sand Lake, Michigan, a 500- by-500-foot pond disappeared into a sinkhole.
The problem was that nobody knew where the wastewater went. According to a county spokesperson, “It will depend on where it went before we can say what happened.”
As I read the article, I imagined all the wrongs of my life as being like that missing filthy lagoon. In my clearest moments of faith, I can say in all honesty that I really don’t know where they went, but they are gone. The last time I saw the real guilt of my envy, anger, and impatience, they were all nailed to the cross of a Man suffering for wrongs He never committed.
Where did my guilt go? The Bible gives me answers that I can’t really understand: buried in the deepest sea (Mic. 7:19), as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12), erased from the eternal books of heaven’s justice (Col. 2:13-15).
No, all I can really understand is that I owe unending gratefulness, praise, and honor to the One who bore our sin—a mystery of inexpressibly good news. —Mart De Haan

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,To His feet thy tribute bring;Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,Evermore His praises sing. —Lyte

When God forgives, He removes our sin and restores our soul.

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