~William Paul Young, the Shack~
Sin is a killer in more ways than one. Sure, as christians we are warned almost from day number one of our acceptance of Jesus that it it our own sins which will keep us from His presence. For even though Jesus Himself became sin on our behalf {2 Corinthians 5:21}, many a believer continues to live in abject fear of just what God has planned for His response to their sin. I believe that this is indeed one of the great discrepencies of modern christianity. Many a pulpit pounder has made his living preaching the truth of the forgiveness of our sin debt which Christ has given to us freely while all the while warning of the consequences of our sins. If your head is spinning at this statement then you're probably not alone at all. I myself have heard more than a few pastors teach the forgiveness of sins and yet cast a dire warning that we need to see out our Lords daily for the forgiveness of our indescretions. I just don't get it. Did Jesus somehow decide not to forgive a few sins just to keep us in line? I think not. I have a habit of taking things literaly. Therefore, if I see scriptural evidence that Jesus indeed became sin and died on that cross that ALL of our sins would be forgiven us, then I'll tend to trust the scriptures over some pulpit pounders interpretation of such. From all I have seen, it is indeed true that not only did Christ Jesus give Himself that our sins would be forgiven, but that He rose again that He would live through us today {Galations 2:20}. There is more than enough evidence that Jesus died for our sin debt to debunk and pulpit pounders opinion. Yet many a christian continues to live in a "what if?" salvation mentality.
6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6 -11 NKJV
One of my favorite quotes from the Paul Young movie/book The Shack is when Papa explains to Mack that He needs not punish people for their sins...sin being its own punishment. Think about it, how do you feel when you are conscious of your own sin? You wallow is dissapointment, you stress out over how God sees you and in the end may just wear out more than a few pairs of trousers as you fall to your knees seeking the Lords forgiveness. Are we to believe that God intended for His children to suffer in their sins? If so, why did He go through that trouble in order that our sins would be forgiven? Was Jesus' sacrafice in vain? Absolutely not. The evidence is that God loved so much that even while we were yet sinners, that Christ died for us {Romans 5:8}. Gods intention was to release us from our sin debt, not to hold it over our heads. Our heavenly Father definately knows the stranglehold that sin can have on His children, which is exactly wy I believe that He never intended us to be enslaved by our sin nature. You could even say that we are dead to sin. This is how the apostle Paul described it, "That the body of sin might be done away with." So, if indeed our former sin nature has been put to death with Christ, and we have every reason to believe our heavenly Fathers word to be true, then we no longer carry that sin debt with us...we're dead to that! Imagine the freedom to proclaim each and every time the guilt of sin comes knocking..."You're dead to me!" As Paul Young writes in The Shack about sin, "It's not my purpose to punish it; it's my joy to cure it." We must consider ourselves cured.
~Scott~
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