My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ the Righteous One. He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the world. 1 John 2:1-2 HCSB
According to an article on Bankrate.com by Kim Porter published in February 2021, as of November 2020, U. S. consumer debt is at 14.2 trillion dollars. Americans carry an average personal debt of 92,727.00. If you are in debt or have ever been in debt, you know it can be like a weight around your neck. It causes people to be overwhelmed and frustrated.
We hear a lot these days about debt consolidation and even debt forgiveness. These are programs that try to help people who have accumulated so much debt, they feel they can’t pay it back. They try to help by lowering payments through consolidating debt and asking debtors to forgive some of these debts.
Sin is a lot like debt. We think that we will just commit this one sin this one time. I mean it looks so good we have to have it, right? We can make things right later. Or, maybe God will overlook this one little sinful behavior and I can just keep on doing it. But, this is not what the Bible tells us. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 10:26-27, if we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries. You see, our sin makes us God’s adversary or His enemy (James 4:4).
The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) gives us a list of rules that God expects us to obey. In Tony Evans’ Bible commentary, he says this about the Ten Commandments. First they are about restraint. They teach us what we should do and what we should not do. We are born with a sinful nature, we must refrain from committing evil acts against each other. We must adhere to the rules in the Ten Commandments and view them as boundaries by which we live and refrain from sinful behavior.
But he says they are also redemptive. We know that we can’t obey all of the commandments all of the time. We are sinners. Romans 3:23 tells us that all sin and fall short of the glory of God. God knew when He gave these commandments to Moses, as a part of His covenant with the people of Israel, that we would not be able to be obedient to all the commandments at all times. He knew that He would need to send His son, Jesus, to pay for our sins. Jesus came to us as a descendant of the Israelites. He perfectly kept every one of the Ten Commandments. He died on the cross and shed His blood to cleanse us from our sins. 1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This is the perfect debt forgiveness program. You see our sin piles up like debt. We have lived in the flesh and bought way more sin than we can pay for. Without this debt being repaid, we go to hell. It’s that simple. But God sent His son, Jesus, to die on the cross to pay for our sin. This means that we don’t even have to pay for it. We just have to accept Jesus as our Savior. We have to believe in Him and confess our sins. We have to repent and ask God to send His Holy Spirit into our heart to help us rid our lives of deliberate sin.
Imagine if some benefactor would just step up to you and say I am going to pay off all your debt, if you will allow me to. That’s a no brainer, I would think. There is a catch, he asks you to manage you money more wisely in the future. He also agrees to send you, your own personal financial advisor to help you do these things.
Well, that’s just what God does. He has offered Jesus to us to cleanse us from our sins. Jesus pays our debt caused by our sin. Then God sends His Holy Spirit to help us do our best to avoid sin. God knows that we will still slip up from time to time, but He will forgive us through His son, Jesus Christ. His Holy Spirit will help us to manage our sinful behavior or use restraint. We only have to accept Him.
If you are drowning in sin and you think you are too far gone, this is just a lie the devil is telling you. Jesus paid for that sin, you only have to accept His payment. Turn to Him today. Believe in Him and accept Him as your savior and your debt will be paid in full.
Have a great day!