"... Out, damned spot! Out, I say! ...
... yet, who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him ...
... What, will these hands ne'er be clean?....
... Here's the smell of the blood still: all the
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten
this little hand! Oh, oh! oh!!"
---- Lady MacBeth, Hamlet, Act V Scene 1
Some may recognize the above excerpts to be from Lady MacBeth's sleepwalking scene where she is out of her mind with guilt for orchestrating the king's death to advance her husband to the throne. Seeing it played out is absolutely heart-breaking, even though we know that this woman is responsible for the deaths of the king and of his family members (and others) by this point in the story. She is so frail and so overwhelmed by the weight of the consequences of her own hunger for power that she goes crazy and commits suicide. Such a tragic, hopeless end!
Many times I see believers believe (or act as if they believe) as did poor Lady MacBeth. They wail and weep over sins they have committed, moan about how unworthy they are, beg God to forgive their sins, and do it all again the next time they think that they've done something unworthy of their calling.
For them, and for those like them, I have good news.
Before any of us were even born, Jesus died for all of our sin. Every sin we would ever commit was covered, eradicated, obliterated from the record books. Past, present, and future (at that time it was all future anyway!!) This not only included the sins we committed while we were still unbelievers, but also the ones we would commit afterward.
We are spotless. Not just positionally - in reality. This is the good news: we are new creations, we are made holy and whole in His sight because we have been purchased, bought back from the slaver and set in the palace with Him as His children. Our debt is already paid. We are already clean. The glory is already given.
We. Are. Spotless.
His divine power has granted us all that we need for life and godliness.
He took the verdict that was written against us and nailed it to His cross.
God has made Him to be sin for us (Him who knew no sin) that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him!
We are holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to be adopted.
We have been saved through grace by faith, not by works, in case anyone would boast. We are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus.
We. Are. Spotless.
Pure, clean, unsullied, without reproach. He has in love redeemed our souls from the pit of corruption, for He has cast all our sins (did you hear that? ALL our sins) behind His back.
Spotless.
Not someday. NOW. Not pie-in-the-sky. No, it's feet-on-the-ground every-day-every-moment HOLY, just as holy as Jesus is. Not because WE have accomplished anything but because He has regenerated us.
This one truth, this deliriously good news, changes our piteous pleas for forgiveness, our hopeless cries of unworthiness, into worship that He has saved us and given us the right to approach Father and ask Him anything - based on what has ALREADY been done, ALREADY been given, ALREADY been provided for us to enjoy.
There is no need to ask or cajole, to beg for His presence. He is there.
There is no need to grovel. He has given us richly all things to enjoy. Including forgiveness. It's already done, once and for all. We get to live in it all of the time.
There is no need to wonder if God will do for us what He has promised, if He has our best interest at heart. We can be confident that He loves us and that He will do whatever is best for us. No matter what!
He bought and paid for it all. He took us in from the cold, has washed us and replaced our rags with His righteousness, adopted us and given us His name.
We.
Are.
Spotless.
Believe it. Joy in it. Dare to experience, to know deep inside how deep His love is, how wide His grace is, how vast His forgiveness is, how far His compassion spreads ... and if by chance you say to yourself, "This is too good to be true," then you are only beginning to scratch the surface of how passionate He is about His relationship with you.
Ask Him. Ask Him to show you how much He loves you.
I bet that He will show you the ultimate expression of His love: Jesus - paying the ultimate price for your freedom at the cross.
Linger there.
... yet, who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him ...
... What, will these hands ne'er be clean?....
... Here's the smell of the blood still: all the
perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten
this little hand! Oh, oh! oh!!"
---- Lady MacBeth, Hamlet, Act V Scene 1
Some may recognize the above excerpts to be from Lady MacBeth's sleepwalking scene where she is out of her mind with guilt for orchestrating the king's death to advance her husband to the throne. Seeing it played out is absolutely heart-breaking, even though we know that this woman is responsible for the deaths of the king and of his family members (and others) by this point in the story. She is so frail and so overwhelmed by the weight of the consequences of her own hunger for power that she goes crazy and commits suicide. Such a tragic, hopeless end!
Many times I see believers believe (or act as if they believe) as did poor Lady MacBeth. They wail and weep over sins they have committed, moan about how unworthy they are, beg God to forgive their sins, and do it all again the next time they think that they've done something unworthy of their calling.
For them, and for those like them, I have good news.
Before any of us were even born, Jesus died for all of our sin. Every sin we would ever commit was covered, eradicated, obliterated from the record books. Past, present, and future (at that time it was all future anyway!!) This not only included the sins we committed while we were still unbelievers, but also the ones we would commit afterward.
We are spotless. Not just positionally - in reality. This is the good news: we are new creations, we are made holy and whole in His sight because we have been purchased, bought back from the slaver and set in the palace with Him as His children. Our debt is already paid. We are already clean. The glory is already given.
We. Are. Spotless.
His divine power has granted us all that we need for life and godliness.
He took the verdict that was written against us and nailed it to His cross.
God has made Him to be sin for us (Him who knew no sin) that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him!
We are holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to be adopted.
We have been saved through grace by faith, not by works, in case anyone would boast. We are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus.
We. Are. Spotless.
 |
| Photo "Waterfall In Forest" courtesy of Witthaya Phonsawat at www.freedigitalphotos.net |
Spotless.
Not someday. NOW. Not pie-in-the-sky. No, it's feet-on-the-ground every-day-every-moment HOLY, just as holy as Jesus is. Not because WE have accomplished anything but because He has regenerated us.
This one truth, this deliriously good news, changes our piteous pleas for forgiveness, our hopeless cries of unworthiness, into worship that He has saved us and given us the right to approach Father and ask Him anything - based on what has ALREADY been done, ALREADY been given, ALREADY been provided for us to enjoy.
There is no need to ask or cajole, to beg for His presence. He is there.
There is no need to grovel. He has given us richly all things to enjoy. Including forgiveness. It's already done, once and for all. We get to live in it all of the time.
There is no need to wonder if God will do for us what He has promised, if He has our best interest at heart. We can be confident that He loves us and that He will do whatever is best for us. No matter what!
He bought and paid for it all. He took us in from the cold, has washed us and replaced our rags with His righteousness, adopted us and given us His name.
We.
Are.
Spotless.
Believe it. Joy in it. Dare to experience, to know deep inside how deep His love is, how wide His grace is, how vast His forgiveness is, how far His compassion spreads ... and if by chance you say to yourself, "This is too good to be true," then you are only beginning to scratch the surface of how passionate He is about His relationship with you.
Ask Him. Ask Him to show you how much He loves you.
I bet that He will show you the ultimate expression of His love: Jesus - paying the ultimate price for your freedom at the cross.
Linger there.
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