Forgive us our sins…Luke 11:4

Reflecting on this request for forgiveness from the Lord’s Prayer, I realized that there have been times when I have asked for forgiveness simply so I wouldn’t have something held against me.  Rather than springing from humble repentance, the request was more a manifestation of pride; I didn’t want a mark against me on the record.  I imagined a whiteboard written with my sins in Expo marker whisked clean by a few quick swipes of a felt eraser.  Of course I prefer the shiny-clean white surface, but this struck me as a tragic misunderstanding of Jesus and his death for me.  He didn’t come and die so that I could have a shiny, white record; he came so that I could be in relationship with him.  The blackness of my sin was not erased by an inanimate object; it was forgiven by the blood of a man who was pierced for me, who suffered and wept for me.

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.  John 19:34

It used to be easy for me to read Hebrews 9:22 (In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness,) in a detached way, as if it were a logic equation:  forgiveness requires shedding of blood; Jesus shed his blood; therefore, I am forgiven.

Do I forget that it wasn’t logic, but love, that motivated God?  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us…  (Ephesians 1:7-8)  May I never again trample that gift underfoot, but rather, joyfully and gratefully, offer him glory and praise!

How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?  Hebrews 10:29

…To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood…to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.  Jude 1:5-6