HE paid for it…

i love the story of a crazy dream this guy had.  he said, “i dreamed that i died and i got to heaven.  when i got up to heaven saint peter said, ‘first, before you go in you’ve got to climb these stairs and write all your sins on a chalk board.’”  he said, “he gave me this huge piece of chalk.  it was long and wide.  i go up the stairs and write my sins and i see a friend of mine coming down the stairs.  i go, ‘where you going?’  he said, ‘going back for more chalk!’” 

the good news is it’s been erased.  that’s good news.  whenever you violate your conscious it figures out a way to get even.  and unconsciously your mind says, you’re going to pay for this guilt either through an illness or you’re going to sabotage a relationship or you’re going to set yourself up for failure.  or somehow.  i’ve got to pay for this.  the more guilt you carry the more hopeless you become.  but you don’t have to be that way.

hebrews 7.19 (tlb), now we have a far better hope for CHRIST makes us acceptable to GOD and we may draw near to HIM.  that means you don’t have to be afraid of GOD once you put your trust in CHRIST. 

if JESUS took every sin you ever committed and already paid for it, you don’t have to pay for it.  is that good news?  now you know why we have a hope.  because HIS pardon has erased my guilt.

you know what pardon means?  it means final judgment.  once you’ve been pardoned i don’t care what other jury turns in a verdict on you.  your parents, your partners, your friends.  they all might say, “you deserve this!”  but GOD says, “you are pardoned!” 

take a deep breath for that one and let it out and go thank GOD.  that’s enough reason to have hope, that i don’t have to carry the guilt for all the things i’ve done wrong.

just a thought from the front porch…