Day 5 of Knowing Him: An Easter Devotional (view all days)
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:29-34).
Back at the beginning, before Jesus had even called his first disciples, there had been a moment of revelation. A wild-looking prophet named John who was baptizing people in the Jordan River and preaching about God reigning as king encountered Jesus of Nazareth. He looked at Jesus (who was John’s own cousin), and God opened his eyes to see that this was the one he had been prophesying about.
“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” is what John said. What he meant was: “Look! There is our salvation! There is the one whom all of the sacrifices in the Old Testament are pointing to. God has promised to take away our sin–and now that is becoming a reality!”
The dilemma that all of us face is: what can we do with all the mistakes, the transgressions, the shortcomings, the sins, that we commit? What does God make of us? Is it really possible that God is willing to forgive?
It is not merely that God forgives sinners–he “takes away” our sin. His forgiveness is so powerful, so complete, that it is appropriate to believe that our sin has been “taken away.” And the sign that God has really done that is that Jesus, like a sacrificial lamb, took our sin upon himself and carried it away.
Ponder This: What makes it hard for us to believe that Jesus has “taken away” our sin? Is it sometimes because we hold onto it? And if so, for what reason?
[This daily devotional will appear through Easter. You may receive via email.]
What makes it hard for us to believe that Jesus has “taken away” our sins? Well, we are human! It may be easy for us to forgive those who have wronged us, but it is difficult for us to forget! We think Jesus is the same as us. We think it is impossible for him to just take away the wrongs that we have done. Until such time we understand who Jesus is, we’ll always doubt. Just because he came on earth, ate, slept, cried and did other basic things that humans do, does not make him a mere human! He is more than human, he is by very nature God. He was there before the world came to be. He healed people. He forgives – differently to humans!
If Jesus died for my sins am I not guilty of His death? I think that it is much harder to forgive ourselves, than others.
This is the stumbling block to those who do not believe – that Jesus came to die for our sins and God forgives us on the basis of Jesus’ death. When we see our sinfulness, it is actually making us feel that we are not worthy to be forgiven. But, of course, we are not worthy. Yet, if we accept Jesus’ atonement for our sins, as we accept Him as Savior, we know that this is the only basis we are forgiven and accepted – faith in the finished work of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
I believe that it is our humanity that makes us ask for forgiveness and then hold on to our sin where He has forgiven us and taken away our sin. I know when I finally meditate on all my sins of many years and I know I’m forgiven by my God and I turn my life over to God these sins do get taken away and I don’t think of them. I will never do them again. He does forgive us and takes away our sins. We go and sin no more. Thank you Christ for coming down, showing us the Holy Spirit and helping us to live in You as You live in us.
We often have no self worth and have never experienced the unconditional love Jesus gives us through his sacrifice and death. When we realize the sin with in us we see ourselves as God sees us and it changes everything. We can give but aren’t willing to receive the sacrifice. The sacrifice is complete, willing, loving placed forth by a need we created and yet was also given to us through the sin of Adam and Eve that we often perpetuate willingly trying to keep up with the world. To release all thought, deeds and emotions to the ever enveloping blood of Jesus floods our lives with a type of love that is supernatural and must be experienced by each person.
As human’s we have a tendency to not be able to forgive ourselves of the sins we have committed therefore we hold onto the sin to remind us to not do the same thing again. It is very hard for us to “forgive and forget” .
I believe that we hold on to that guilt of the sin, not because we don’t trust or believe that we are forgiven, but that we are not worthy of that forgiveness. That we know the reason for this sin is a weakness in us and the fear or repeating that sin or another sin is so real, so possible.
It may be hard for many believers that Jesus took away our sins when we hear about all the sinning in church every Sunday. I believe that we hold on to that guilt of the sin, not because we don’t trust or believe that we are forgiven, but that we are not worthy of that forgiveness. That we know the reason for this sin is a weakness in us and the fear or repeating that sin or another sin is so real, so possible.
Jesus will take all our sins away if we let Him. I believe we hold on to the sin sometimes because
it’s more comfortable to us. We are used to it. It’s like a tooth ache that is with us but we don’t do
anything about it because we either can’t afford it or we are afraid of the dentist but after the tooth is gone and all the pain goes away, all I can think is why did I wait so long.
Thanks for all you do for the Kingdom.
I think that we believe that Jesus can take away our sin but we as flesh have a hard time forgiving ourself for our sin. We need to pray that God will help us forgive ourselves as God has forgiven us. Thank you LORD!!!!
I am a sinner.
please, pray for me.
thanks
The spirit is willing but the flesh is week. Nothing that gets dirty gets cleaned without something else getting dirty. A mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.
I know the reason that I have to constantly remind myself that my sins have been cast “as far as the east is from the west”. It is the evil one trying to convince me through my self esteem, that I am not worthy of the amazing Love that was demonstrated on the cross. Grace is something completely foreign to the human ability to comprehend. All of our everyday life is based upon being worthy, or earning something. Then Jesus does something so amazing. When we accept that, our destiny is sealed. The only thing the evil one can do at that point is keep you from helping to seal the destiny of others with your witness. He does that by fooling us into thinking we are not worthy of the gift, so therefore not worthy to share it with others.
We also need to remember that when Jesus forgives our sins, he casts them into the “sea of his forgetfulness, as far as the East is from the West.” As forgiven Christians, we should not go “fishing” for those sins and continue to carry guilt. Forgiveness of OURSELVES for the sins we have committed is essential in the healing process. If God forgives us, we should also forgive ourselves. We should not continue to “cling” to the guilt of past sins. If we go to Jesus after repenting of sin and say, “Please forgive me for the sin I committed last week,” He will say, “What sin?” What a wonderful thought that he truly forgets our sins.
Forgiveness is strong feeling and one that is hard to reach. I feel we hold on to our feelings of our sins because we really cannot believe the depth as to which we are forgiven. I have learned in Bible Studies that God indeed wants me to forget my transgressions and sins as a part of my belief in Him. Without that release, I am showing Him and telling Him I do not fully believe in Him. Satan still has a hold on me. Therefore, I must forgive myself as obedience is what pleases Him and as a believer I want to please God in everyway.
It’s hard to face the question straight on. Why do we hold on to our sins, sins we say we believe God has forgiven us for?
Maybe we don’t go deep enough into our hearts, soul and mind to face our strongholds? Maybe we don’t even recognize our own strongholds that are hindering our closeness to God. It takes time, and it causes pain. Maybe the truth is to uncomfortable to face? Maybe we don’t feel worthy, which means then that we really don’t know our Almighty God. We are not accepting His divine love for us. Could that be true? It’s true in my life. Or more correctly it WAS true in my life.
What is helping me now is to daily read scripture that helps me get rid of the lies I have been living with.
Sharing and praying with other grounded Christians my troubled and confusing thoughts. Being guided to special Psalms, Proverbs, and passages in the Bible, read in context, to cleanse my mind, and fill it with God’s truth and unfailing love for me.
God loves us so much, and it’s o.k. to release our shame and guilt. God wants that for us.
With a smile and a song for Christ,
wendy
I can’t forget my past, and my past causes me to sin. I know that is no excuse.
I think it’s hard for some to believe because, most of our lives we have been taught a merit system. We some how feel that we have to earn our salvation by works. But as you know works don’t save you.Ephesians 2:8 says”For by grace are ye saved through faith: and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
verse 9, Not of works, lest any man should boast” (kjv) Only Christ can save us. That is why his birth had to come through a virgin. If Joseph had been his biological father, he would have had a sin nature. But Luke 1:35 says”And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God.” I like what Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 5:28) “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin: that we might be the righteousness of God in him” Amen.
We hold on to the sin of this world because of our insecurity in our faith. It’s like a roller coaster ride, one minute we believe and the next we doubt. Also we may feel we do not deserve His forgiveness. It is hard to comprehend because His sacrifice was so great and how can we measure to that? The good news is that we don’t have to.
I agree. We tend to have more faith in what we see and feel than what we should know in our hearts to be the Truth. We are still wounded in so many areas and struggle in our flesh to “fix” our own problems and hold onto our pain instead of casting it all on Him, because He cares for us. It has to be a daily dying to self and being so hungry and desperate for Him that nothing in this world will satisfy except Him.
JESUS said I am the way the truth and the life no onhow tre comes to the father except through me how true thank you LORD
Before I experienced true salvation, I confessed my sins to a man. It still was not for sevral years that I understood God’s amazing grace and his CHOICE to forget my sins. It was hard, and still is sometimes, to forgive myself even after I’ve asked Him to forgive me – possible because we are still in this world that gives, loves and forgives conditionally.
Thank you for this study! I’m loving it!
I find it difficult to forgive myself..If I can’t forgive myself, I do not respect myself..I find it hard to even like myself ,,let alone Love myself..Yet,, because of this attitude, I do everything in my power to hide how I feel,,the real me,, by protecting myself and being very self centered. My feelings on the inside dictate my behaviour. I do not come across to others as a Christian.. Christ wants us to Love others as you as you do yourself, right?? How can he love me if I don’t love me,, and how can I truely love others.. Its not Love to be needy of praise all the time… So when It comes to accepting Christ ‘s gift of eternal life by accepting His forgivness,, that takes quite a bit of soul searching to be ture to Christ when saying ” I Trust” that you have forgiven me..
I must be real of Christ won’t even hear me.. I must be willing to be born agian..Then be willing and ready to take my faith to the next leval and continue to grow… We want to stay in a comfort zone.
Because we get into a comfort zone. Behaviors become a habit where we get use to those bad behaviors that sometimes we think its normal behavior. I think thats why people hold on to there sins. Once they get the courage to step out in faith that is when sin is removed. Then you changed your behaviors into good behaviors, then your faith/ belief get stronger. Then the miracles will surround you every day.
I hold on to sins when I know I’ve hurt someone.
I hold on to sin because fighting it is like a loosing battle; but fortunately, I remember that the battle is of the Lord. He never gave up on me so I am encouraged to keep trying Trusting Him only.
Marie Lucie – thank you for the honestly and simplicity of your plea. We sinners should indeed pray for each other.
Thanks, everyone, for the insights. I thought it was a simple question (“what makes it hard for us to believe that Christ has taken away our sin?”) — your comments point out a wide range of reasons why this is so.
It is satan who wants to deceive us and led us to believe that our sins are so big that the sacrifice of Jesus was not big enough to take away all our sins. He wants us to hold onto our sins and to hide away from the presence of the Lord because of our guilt.
Praise be to God for ever and forever. Thanks for this great remimder!! 🙂
These devotions have been such a blessing for me! This message is powerful and I’m using these short devotions with my son as well. I love that it’s short but powerful so in passing it on, someone can get a great message without a long read. God bless you for this, it’s a great way to be reminded of our Saviour at this time of the year! THANKS!
If this were not true, We would all be lost. There is no one on Gods earth that is sinless, we all fall short. Jesus is our Savior, He took it all upon Himself.
I can easily forgive. The hard part if forgetting. Jesus will forgive and forget. He is awesome!
Why can’t we just believe Jesus when He says our sins are forgiven? Let’s start taking Jesus at His Word. Let’s be like the paralytic at Bethesda. Jesus told him to stand up pick up his mat and walk, and that’s what he did. Wjhen Jesus says something it HAPPENS
I concurr with Russ. Once yielding to temptation and comitting a sin, I didn’t receive and believe God’s word about His grace and ability to forgive me and restore me, but rather believed the enemy, and was kept in bondage not forgiving myself or accepting forgiveness from others.
Thank you sometimes I forget, a old hymn says, what can wash away my sins.. nothing but the BLOOD of JESUS. What can make me whole again nothing but the BLOOD of JESUS. Thank you being Lord of my Life Amen
We don’t believe because of pride. Jesus said that anything that is not of faith is Sin. we rather initiate to God, to respond to us, asking him, for what in Him we already have, what he had to die for to give us, it cost him his Life. When we initiate to God to respond to us, we make ourselves greater than God. He initiates and we respond, hopefully by Faith that pleases God, and we say thank you Father for taking it away. Are you walking by faith, or presumption?
AMEN
If this is truly what you believe then why would a pastor get up in front of a congregation (Elmbrook) and ask God to forgive their sins this week. If you think God has forgiven sin then why do a series on the 10 commandments and hold people up to the law, a standard that we can’t achieve anyway. I think that is one of the problems in the church is that people have been guilted so much that even the believers live in shame and don’t believe that a God could forgive what they have done. I have also asked Scott why we ask forgiveness and he said because we grieve the Holy Spirit, how can you grieve the Holy Spirit that knows the capability of our flesh. Its the life of Christ living in us that gives us what we need to be who we are in Him. Thats where our focus should be, In Christ, Jerry
We’re all born with a conscious and that’s where the problem resides.Yes God forgives us of our sins and yet we can’t forgive ourselves or others whom have wronged us. I don’t have the answer as to why we can’t let go of our sins although they’ve been forgiven. I must sya most of my life I’ve thought about this and the only thing I can come up with is the fact that we reap what we sow, therefore when we come up against bad things happenning to us it comes across our minds that we have sinned, and have transgressions which keeps us from letting go. Grace,Charlene
My sister and I had a discussion on this. She said once God take away our sins we are no longer sinners. I said we always sin and have to go to our father daily for forgiveness. So what do you think? Once we receive salvation are we exempt from sin or are we still sinners
Do I hold on to sin because it makes me who I am? If I relinquish all these shortcomings and failures, is there anything left?
Once identified I do my very best to give them to you Lord, but it is the unidentified that has a hold on me.
Being in the word helps me identify areas that I need to allow Christ to cleanse and move forward confidently. A new person in Christ Jesus. Glory!!!!!!!!!
Why do we hold onto our sin? I do not know. It is a heavy burden and weighs us down. I know God has forgiven me and it’s all because of Jesus but sometimes it just keeps coming back to haunt me. This “taken away” concept has given new light to forgiveness. If Jesus takes it away, then it is gone, departed from me and so has the guilt connected with it. Once I ask God to forgive me through Jesus Christ, I am truly forgiven. I love my Savior but it is because He first loved me.
We are blinded by our sins because of our own selfish desires to take everything that pleases our carnal being. The danger of this self-centered focus is when we reach the end of the rope, what’s next? Hopelessness and eventually self destruction. We should not wait till the end of the rope to realize that there is a way out. Hope is faith in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the One. He is the Messiah who brings the promise of Salvation from the Old and New testaments, to come into fruition in our own lives if we embrace His gospel, that He is the Lamb who died for our sins so we could resurrect with Him in heaven. Let us confess our sins, repent and believe in Him…..
Our forgiveness our very salvation is a gift from God. With that in mind, I remember a very important lesson my mother taught me that for every gift received, I was required to give thanks to the giver. So, how do I thank God for such an enormous gift. I think a study of Luther’s fifth Gospel 1 Peter is a good start.
I think that we need to realize that just as we are commanded to forgive others, we need to forgive ourselves as well. We condemn ourselves. The more that I get to see how Jesus works the more I am able to accept his forgiveness.
I believe that is difficult to believe that Jesus has “taken away” our sins is our self-centerness .We keep thinking that we can handle our own problems and that we have the right to do so. We are very prideful and it is hard to admit we can’t do something or that we need help. Also, it is hard for us to trust in something we can’t connect to with our five senses.
I was just thinking of this very conumdrum during prayer this morning. I told God that I don’t think I am worthy of someone making this sacrifice for me, especially since I can give nothing in return. I feel that since I can’t be perfect and can only ask forgiveness for my sins, that I am nothing but a big mess up and that I must be a HUGE disappointment to God and to Jesus. He died for me, but I can’t stop messing up. I am so ashamed.
I believe Jesus defeated sin and death at the Cross. Ever since the fall from the Garden of Eden, we were separated from God by sin in general, and we still experience sin and death in this fallen world. Yet Jesus was and is the necessary and only sufficient atonement for our sin, the only way we can be reconciled unto God, and brought back into the fellowship with Him that He desires because of His love for us. Of course, we all continue to sin (fall short, miss the mark) and none of us “deserve” the grace of God, or Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, by anything we can say or do. We, on our own, cannot make ourselves “good” enough to truly deserve this gift God has given to us. The reason people feel guilty, or hold onto their sin, is for one simple fact, WE ARE GUILTY. And surely, as the defeated but still raging enemy, Satan uses all of the tricks he has to make sure we don’t ever forget it. That’s why reading and hearing God’s Word is so important. Recognition of our limitations and the magnitude of God’s gift of salvation make us all the more humble and grateful for that love and forgiveness that only He can bestow. “Amazing Grace” is just that–AMAZING. We have to place our faith in God to receive it, to accept His Spirit into our hearts, and live by that Spirit, becoming new creatures in Christ Jesus.
It is hard to believe that Jesus has taken away our sins because it is utterly impossible for us to understand a love so deep that God would give up His own son so that our sins would be forgiven and so that we could become closer to God and have a relationship with Him. I can’t imagine that I would ever be able to sacrifice my son for anybody for any reason. I guess that makes me an imperfect human being, but God loves me anyway.
We, as humans, have a hard time believing we can just let it go. Especially since we still sin and work hard at not sinning. We are born into sin and live in it until our rebirth in Christ. Jesus’ love and the Holy Spirit have to be put in charge and many find that hard to do. I have found my walk with Jesus to be like a beautiful marriage that changes with time always in love but with different things to be done.
We as Christians try and do the right things but when we sin sometimes its even hard to forgive ourselves much less expecting God to forgive our sins so we are ashamed and forget just how much God loves us so much and want only the best for us and that Jesus has already paid for our sins so this is why I think its hard for us believe it.