Word for Wednesday
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His Name’s sake. 1 John 2:12
What does it take for someone to become a Christian? If you ask people that question, you will get an amazing array of answers. Some will even say we are all Christians because we live in a Christian country. Others insist that by joining their particular church, you would become a Christian, and some others would say that being born into a Christian family or a family that belonged to a particular church, you would become a Christian. And there are those who point to a rite or ceremony, such as a baptism, christening, or confirmation and declare that that made them a Christian. Similarly, some people insist they became a Christian when they signed a pledge card or made a ‘commitment to Christ’. You could even get an atheist who would insist that becoming a Christian is irrelevant because ‘there is no God’. So a person who truly wanted to know would get pretty confused if all they did was ask people how to become a Christian. That’s why God gave us His Word, the Bible, which declares that we are Christians because He has forgiven our sins for Jesus’ sake.
Our sins are forgiven! That is the most important thing for us to know as Christians. Hopefully we will grow and learn more than that, but it is that one fact that makes all the difference. It was our sins that separated us from a relationship with God. It was our sins that were destroying our life here on earth and that were dragging us downward toward eternal perdition. God’s holiness prevented Him from accepting us with our sins, but God’s grace extended to us forgiveness of those sins. Our acceptance of that forgiveness brought us into the good of God’s grace, and we became a Christian. Recall the paralytic man in Matthew 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5 who was let down through the roof into the house where Jesus was preaching, how His first words to the sick man were that his sins were forgiven. Jesus dealt with the man’s most important need before He addressed his physical condition.
How could God so freely forgive us? Our text declares that it is for His Name’s sake. Whose name? The Name of Jesus Christ. The Name Jesus means Saviour. The title Christ means Messiah or Sent One of God. In this great Name, we see God’s great provision as recorded in John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. In these words we see God’s great plan of salvation, in the sending of His Son to be our Saviour, to die for our sins on Calvary’s cross. That vicarious death provided the full payment for our sins. God holy justice is satisfied, so that, our sins having been paid for, God can extend forgiveness to us. And this He does, by His Word.
Our sins are forgiven! Not only is that wonderful, but it is also only the beginning of what God has for us in His Word! – Jim MacIntosh