Ephesians 1:3-14
- He forgives us (7),
There is a story I like to share. It would probably never happen…
Imagine a couple that work hard to keep their family going. On their modest income that does not include health insurance, they don’t see the need and definitely don’t see the ability to afford a family health insurance plan at $1,000 or more every month. The dad gets sick and needs to go to the hospital, just for a few days. The tens of thousands of dollars in hospital bills add up very quickly. Now, not only is the family in debt to the hospital, they also lost a week or more of income because, don’t forget, dad was in the hospital. Furthermore, no insurance plan out there will even consider covering dad because of his new, “pre-existing condition.” Well, there is the “open enrollment” program under “Obamacare” that may accept pre-existing conditions, but that does not happen until November. What if dad didn’t go to the hospital on Uncle Sam’s convenient schedule and there are more tests and follow-up procedures that need to be done? What does the family do? They literally CAN’T pay their bills! Wouldn’t it be great if the hospital had mercy on them and forgave their debt by tapping resources from some benevolence fund? Before I told you this story, remember what I said, “it would probably never happen.” And that is what makes this story so wonderful. It does happen!
This is what forgiveness is all about. We are born into this world as sinners, even if we would never sin. But it’s not like we never sin. Quite the opposite, we do just about everything wrong from the get-go and learn to get worse. When we should be putting God first, we get really good about putting “me” first in all things. As we continue down this path in life, we adapt to be like everybody else. We come to the point where we think and act as though we don’t need God in our lives. Even if we were better than most and wanted some part of God in our lives, we think that we have so many other things we need to do to survive in this dog-eat-dog world that we simply don’t have the time or resources available to pour into God and eternity. But in all of our man-made logic, we forgot the most obvious conclusion of life on earth – death is unavoidable, then what? Just like the family that went to the hospital and admitted their inability to pay, we must go to God and admit our sin. And then God, like the hospital, pulls resources from a benevolence fund to finance our life saving treatment. The benevolence fund of God is none other than the life of His only begotten Son, Jesus, on the cross. When we get saved, God takes our sins and charges them to the account of Jesus. God forgives our sin debt completely and eternally. Praise the Lord!