“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—” – Romans 3:25
When someone sinned against us, it takes days, weeks, months or even years for us to forgive them. If the fault really offended us, it takes a lifetime for us to forgive. It will make us incapable of forgiveness because our hearts are very calloused. Now, if we know that we are most of the time incapable of forgiveness, especially to those who have wronged us, how come we expect God to always forgive us over and over again for the reason that we are just “humans”? With all honesty, this excuse is such a very lame excuse. We don’t get to be pardoned all the time just because we are nothing but a human being! Our nature does not excuse us or give us the license to deliberately sin against God.
Our verse today brings us into the truth that we are not forgiven because we are just naturally sinful. However, we are forgiven because God is just and loving at the same time. He already planned to sacrifice His Son for the sins of the world. Now, this sacrifice and salvation is not because we are good or that because we deserve it, but it is because God is good, loving, faithful, and forgiving. Although we do not deserve it, He still chose to save us and to pardon us from all of our sins. That is why Jesus was presented to be the atoning sacrifice.
Instead of us dying and suffering for our sins, it was Christ who took all the wrath of God. The Father poured His anger towards the cup and let Christ drink it all. It was Christ who suffered, who got condemned, forsaken, and rejected so that we will live in ease, not condemned but blessed, not forsaken, and accepted. Through the shedding of the blood of Christ, we are saved and we are freed from the bondage of sin and death. So, we must always remember that this salvation does not come from our own good works (as if we did anything good) but it is because of the work of God– with His grace and mercy.
Therefore, we have to understand that we are indeed so blessed that God is merciful and gracious. Ain’t it amazing to serve the one true God who cared so much for us? We have to always praise Him, and keep following Him. Let us tell the world of His mercy and live a life following Him. May we live our lives as holy sacrifice to Him, and reflect Christ’s light in us since we are already saved and made righteous through the shedding of His blood.
