Day 13, "Fully Pardoned and Set Free!"

Who out there is still carrying around unwanted personal baggage? You know what I am talking about. The regrettable

moment(s) that took place years ago but still are so vivid and relived in your mind that it seems like it took place just yesterday? The relationships that have been irreconcilable for years? Words rashly and angrily spoken in the heat of a moment that severed ties with one of your closest friends? Things that we take without asking? Lives that we damage? Even lives that we take? All the crimes that we may have committed? Do you find yourself getting really tired and weary of carrying and wrestling with such burdens? Imagine, then, for a moment, what your life might feel and look like if you were no longer burdened by such weights and you were completely set free? Are you ready for some "good news?" You can be! And for the believer and non-believer the message is still the same: Jesus Christ wants you to be free, too!

"Come to me, all you are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke

upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find

rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

" I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10;10

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36

There are two realms in which are actions incur consequences in this life and weigh us down. One is in man's, which is physical and temporary. The other is in God's, which is spiritual and eternal. Both require reparations for us to become free and unburdened. But each must be handled in its own way.

In man's world, the pathway of reparation is to make things right again. One can find no better guiding light than to act out of l0ve- putting the other person's interest before our own. It may take the form of saying, "I'm sorry," or asking, "Will you forgive me?" Forgiveness is a powerful concept for restoration if one believes that forgiveness is the act of asking the other person to remember the grievous event or action no more, as if it had never taken place in the first place. Only in act of forgiveness can there be real restoration. Making things right may lead you to make restitution or compensate others for the harm incurred. By man's standard, it may also mean serving out the punishment as require for such violations of man's laws. One of the most healing ways to make the past right again is to take personal responsibility for one's own actions. Keep in mind, I am saying to be responsible for oneself, not for holding yourself responsible for the actions and reactions of others. Your attempt to make things right might still be rebuffed and rejected. But if you did everything on your part to make it right and it still gets rejected, then let it go! Sometimes we just have to let others work through their own issues, too. We all are guilty of doing foolish things and acting out in a childish, self-centered manner. Another word of encouragement for you: the same love and compassion that you would be willingly to extend to others in bringing about healing and reconciliation, apply it to yourself as well. We are all human, each perfectly capable of screwing up. Be kind to yourself. From God's perspective, you are certainly worth it. Notice, I didn't say worthy. In the temporary nature of life, there is the underlying understanding that "this, too, shall pass." Meaning, our lives here on Earth are brief at best. Therefore, it behooves us to try to distinguish what's really important in life apart from that which is fleeting.

"Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another, for

he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law."

Romans, 13:8-10

"Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him

stumble." 1 John 2:10

"And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love

one another as he commanded us." 1 John 3:23

In God's realm, the spiritual and eternal, the consequences of violating God's standards are immeasurably greater and much more severe.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our

Lord." Romans 6:23

How do we begin to rectify our spiritual situation before a holy and just God? The great news? We can't! The even greater news? We can't, but God can!

"For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by

faith from first to last." Romans 1:17

"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his

grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23-24

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into

this grace in which we now stand." Romans 5:1-2

"But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ

died for us." Romans 5:8

"but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have

now received reconciliation." Romans 5:11

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Romans 8:1

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Romans 8:35

"neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate

us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:39

"It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."

Romans 9:16

"Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who

believes." Romans 10:4

"That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that

God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever

believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17

"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have

life. 1 John 5:11-12

There is nothing you nor I can do to restore our relationship with God by our own efforts. It is God who in his love, mercy, forgiveness and grace, made our reconciliation possible. Much of the fear in life is born under the weight of anxiety, fearing what may await us when we stand before God when we die. Will it be acceptance or rejection? When we understand God's love for us, are fears and anxiety begin to subside and joy and peace begin to take their place.

"Perfect love casts out all fear." 1 John 4:18

"This is how God showed his love among us; He sent his one and only Son into the

world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that

he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin." 1 John 4:9-10

Fear can destroy any chance for peace in the soul. If God justified and made us holy through Christ's sacrifice on the cross, then it is as if we have never sinned- past, present, and anything in the future. God, through Christ, has extended to us an unconditional pardon for all that we have done and all that we ever do. In God's view, we are holy and completely justified. We are free from any condemnation from God. By mercy, God gave

us a get out of Hell card through Christ. By his grace, He gave us eternal life and calls us his children.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called

children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

The Apostle Paul complained about his "thorn in the flesh" and repeatedly asked God to remove it. But He never did. But Paul did learn to be content and have peace regardless of his circumstances.

"for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." Philippians 4:11

Paul's contentment and peace didn't come from his circumstances. It was the love and acceptance Paul experienced from Christ that transformed his self-righteous, egocentric heart and brought him joy and peace. Knowing that same love and acceptance in Christ can free our lives, too!

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive

mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new

has come! All this is from God, who reconciled the world to himself in Christ,

not counting men's sins against them." 2 Corinthians 5:17-18

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be freed indeed." John 8:36

There is an incredible life to be had in Christ. Not only to have a hope and expectation for a life after this, but to walk moment by moment in this life knowing that you are loved for who you are and that there is no cause for fear. God's love and acceptance takes away our fear and assures us who we are in Him.

I close with this story as shared by Alan Wright, senior pastor at Reynolda church in Winston-Salem, NC:

The academic year for the new college freshman had just begun. She had been a top honor student back in high school and had elected an honors English class that semester that was to be taught by a renowned female professor. Following her first week at college, she return home in tears and found her father. "Dad, I am going to fail this class. I need to change my English class to a regular level class. Can you help me? Can you come to the college and help me speak to my professor?" Following the weekend, the father and daughter made their way back to the college. After presenting his daughter's case to the professor, the professor asked the father, "Would you mind if I spoke directly to your daughter?" "Not at all," the father responded. "Sarah, what if I were to give you an "A" right now for the entire semester? Do you think that you could show up for class and give it your best effort?" the professor asked Sarah. With her countenance quickly changing and her head quickly lifting up, Sarah wholeheartedly replied, "Yes!" "Then, that's what we are going to do," assured the professor. "Sarah, from now on, you have an "A" in this class. I will see you tomorrow in class," ended the professor. The father and his daughter left the room.

Sarah made it to class every day. In fact, Sarah earned her "A" for the semester all on her own. What the professor had done was to take away the fear of failure that was disabling Sarah, setting her free to be herself and be the person that she had the potential to be.

God's love does the same thing for you and I. In Christ, God says you have an "A" for life. Now, go and enjoy life, unafraid and unencumbered. Whatever still haunts you, all the things you wish you could take back, all the wrong decisions made and hurts incurred along the way, there is a place where you can go and lay them all down: at the foot of the cross where Christ took the penalty and shame for you.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not

to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Meet you tomorrow...