“I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; You heard my plea, ‘Do not close Your ear to my cry for help!’ You came near when I called on You; You said, ‘Do not fear!”” Lamentations 3:55-57
We just celebrated Christmas with the kind of gift giving where a return gift is generally expected. And more often than not, if the return gift isn’t equal or greater than the gift given, feelings tend to get hurt. As humans we attach the givers value of our worth to the price they paid for the gift. It’s not right, but we do it none-the-less. Well let’s take Jesus for a moment then. Christmas is supposed to be all about Him right? At Christmas we focus on the fact that He came and is called “Immanuel” which means, “God with us”. The price that He paid to be “with us” is greater than we could EVER imagine. We aren’t even capable of coming up with the things in heaven that He gave up to come be with us here on earth. But I do know one of the things He gave up, His innocence.
Jesus was the perfect sacrifice because He is perfect, in every way possible. He knew NO sin, He had none whatsoever. And yet He took our sins, all of them, upon Himself. At the moment we believed in the name of Jesus for our salvation we were covered with our own sins, past, present and future sins, each one appearing as a little garage sale sticker all over our bodies. And in that very same moment of confession, of our belief in Jesus as our Savior, He came and removed each and every one of those stickers and placed them on Himself saying, “This is mine”. The spotless Lamb suddenly covered in our spots leaving us spotless.
The gift He gives is one of taking. Jesus gives the gift of removing our blemishes, the ones we can see and the ones we can’t. And the thing is, He took them from us before we ever committed a single one. Jesus doesn’t forgive us at the time we ask! He forgave us on that cross 2,000 years ago! The moment we ask for His forgiveness is the moment we receive His gift of forgiveness.
I challenge you today; how much of God’s forgiveness are you willing to receive; just enough for today, or ALL OF IT? Jesus paid for this gift with His LIFE so it’s pretty obvious that you mean more to Him than you could ever imagine. His death made you spotless, a new creation worthy to enter into the throne room and sit on the lap of God Almighty and call Him “Daddy”. And all you have to do is tell Him that you accept His gift of eternal Love. And then continue receiving it day after day after day after day after day after……
Psalm 27:1 (HCSB) “The LORD is my light and my salvation – whom should I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life – of whom should I be afraid?”
Isaiah 41:10 (HCSB) “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.”
Isaiah 41:13 (HCSB) “For I, Yahweh your God, hold your right hand and say to you: Do not fear, I will help you.”
Isaiah 50:10 (HCSB) “Who among you fears the LORD, listening to the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness, and has no light? Let him trust in the name of Yahweh; let him lean on his God.”
Tamar Knochel 