For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Romans 3: 23-26 (NLT)
But the enemy still likes to accuse us. Night and day he makes accusations against us. He whispers in our ears about our sin condition but nothing about the ransom that was already paid for it. He will whisper about our cheating, our lying, and our deceitfulness. He will whisper about our sexual sins, our sins in our thought life, and our sins of apathy. He will keep us tied and shackled to that event in our past through guilt and shame and feelings of unworthiness. But realize the last lesson from the Colossians verses is that God took all of those debts and nailed them to the cross!
That thing you have told no one about that happened when
you were 10 years old? God nailed it to the cross for you. That failed marriage
or relationship you can't seem to get over? God nailed it to the cross for you.
Your past as a drug addict, alcoholic, or adulterer? God nailed it to the cross
for you. Realize that every time you insist on marinating in the failures of
your past that you literally climb back up on the cross and take these things
back from Jesus who took them from you. Leave them on
And what does God expect for this payment He has made on our behalf? What is the interest He charges us? Going back to the key verses today we see the only payment He expects out of us is love. That is an ongoing debt. God even gets specific here to prove His point. How can you say that you love someone and then steal from them? That is why stealing is sin. How can you say you love someone and then murder them? That is why murder is a sin. Adultery and coveting are not based in love either, so they are sin. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves as Jesus once taught as well:
One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" Jesus replied, "'You must love the L ord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." Matthew 22: 35-40 (NLT)
Can you imagine trying to trap God with a question?
Remember this exchange if someone ever tries to trap you regarding your beliefs.
The answer is always love. In fact, Jesus goes as far as to say that the entire
law and all of the demands of the prophets are based on loving God and loving
each other. In fact, Jesus gave a new commandment to us all before He went to
pay our debt on
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." John 13: 34-35 (NLT)
Love each other. That sounds simple enough but how short do we all fall? Just as Christ loved us beloved. That means loving each other unconditionally. That means not holding anyone liable for the debts they owe. For the mistakes they make. If you want to know why it seems more and more difficult to see souls won for the Kingdom in these the end days look no further than John 13: 35. We fall so precipitously short of fulfilling this new commandment from our Lord and Savior and the world is watching. If they see this is how we treat each other, without love, where is their incentive? They need to want what we have.
It is interesting that the key verses conclude today by saying that love, is the fulfillment of the law. The result of following the laws God laid out in the Old Testament would be love. But man in his sinful state cannot possibly love at the level God desires for us. His law would never be fulfilled through our human flesh. The result is we owed a debt to God for not being able to fulfill His law, to love as He wanted for us. That debt hit a ceiling that could not be raised so God designed an eternal payment plan through His only Son Jesus Christ. These were His words about fulfilling the law:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5: 17 (NIV)
Love is the fulfillment of the law. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. Jesus is love. And all He asks is that we remember how much He loved us when we are dealing with each other. That is the only debt that is to remain outstanding. To love one another. There is a world watching us right now. They need to see the love of God in us and through us. Show it today.
Reverend Anthony Wade August 2, 2011
