Moving Forward

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that thebody of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.  For he who has died has been freed from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that H elives, He lives to God.  Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts.
Romans 6: 6-12 NKJV

There is many a christian today who live life in the past.  We go to church on Sunday with the full intent to live a better life.  Yet, within a few days we find ourselves in prayer asking our Lords forgiveness once again.  If we were to listen very closely in these silent moments of our prayer, would we hear Jesus whiper to us, "Forgiveness for what, my child?"  I wonder just what our response would be.  It's not totaly our fault, for each week the conventional wisdom is that we, as christians, need to seek our Lords forgiveness as we seek to be more like Him.  But what exactly are we seeking Gods forgiveness for?  Just what egregious sin have we committed which warrants the grace of His forgiveness?  Now, let me phrase that in another way.  What sin have we committed which Christ Jesus has not already bled and died to forgive already?  For as Jesus hung on that cross, was He not doing so for the full forgiveness of the sins of all mankind?  As the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6, the very death which Christ Jesus died, "He died to sin once for all."  One perfect sacrafice, one death for the abolition of sin.  Done, finished!  Enough for Christ to claim as He died, "It is finished!"  Again I ask, what sin is there for which Jesus has not died to forgive us for?  And yet we continue to seek our Lords forgiveness for what we've done.

Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.  For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, seperate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrafices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
Hebrews 7: 25-27 NKJV

Again, we see in Hebrews 7, that Christ Jesus offered up Himself as a sacrafice for sin once for all.  Not just for a few chosen sins or sinners, but for the sins of all mankind.  This is the free gift of grace from our heavenly Father, that He loved us enough to provide for our salvation.  As long as we hold to the belief that there may still be that sin for which the blood of Jesus has not covered, we live in the past.  Indeed, the sacrafice of Christ Jesus assured us that we need no longer live with our sin penalty.  He assured us of this by becoming sin on our behalf and taking our place on that cross.  We are no longer tied to our past, but free to move forward in Jesus.

~Scott~