“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
“Winter Sun Helps Clear Snow”. One of the local television stations I watch had this headline on their website several days after a seven-inch snow storm arrived in our area and wreaked havoc with schools and businesses. Unfortunately, cloudy weather and extremely low temperatures did not help melting for a couple of days. Finally on day three, the sun broke through and the melting began. All that salt and brine on the roads disappeared once the sun showed up!
I was driving through my neighborhood as the snow began to melt and thought about God’s warmth once he melted all that sin away from my life. Indeed, when the Son showed up in my life, things began to change.
What a great analogy to what the “Son” can do for us when we allow him into our lives. In fact, a verse from one of the books of the Apocrypha, the 15 books that were considered but did not make it into the Old Testament, compares the love of God to the very same cold weather I just experienced. “In the day of thine affliction it shall be remembered; thy sins also shall melt away, as the ice in the fair warm weather.” (Ecclesiasticus 3:15)
When we come to a deep and close relationship with God, we experience a thawing of sorts, too. All the bitterness and hatred in our lives are removed. Our sins are washed away by God’s love, and our hearts are seen by him just as white and pure as the snowfall that has all but disappeared in my community.
But even though the snow is almost gone, I still see its effects. Vehicles that were stranded are still along the sides of roads, yards are cluttered with fallen tree branches, and businesses that were forced to close are struggling to meet their payrolls for the week. The snow may be gone, but its effects remain for us to deal with.
Sin that is forgiven has the very same effect. The blood of Jesus has washed it all away. We are completely forgiven. In the eyes of God, it is just as if it never happened. This is what the Apostle Paul refers to in Romans as “justification”. Yet, all the consequences that came from sinful living (wrong choices) remain with us – just like those problems that remained after the snowfall has long since melted away.
God’s love for us should never be in doubt. There is much to learn from the consequences of forgiven sin. He is giving us a second chance to deal with our mistakes – to confront them through forgiveness and to learn more from them out of grace. The second time around is always painful, but the lessons learned are always priceless.
Dr. Charles Stanley once wrote about the consequences of sin and like me sees it as a necessary extension of a deeper relationship with God. “The good news of Christ’s grace and forgiveness,” he wrote, “is our only real hope in this fallen world. Though unpleasant, focusing on sin’s consequences is necessary at times to remind us of the greatness of our salvation and to move us to obey God, even in the small things.”
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