Redeemed

In thinking about what it means to live by grace, I had the realization that it means that the past is just that—the past. It should no longer holds sway on us. It was as though sin had a choke-hold on us, and we should have been Sons and Daughters of God--part of His family. That was why God created us. God desired to have a family. In desiring a relationship with us that was free, God created us in a dangerously free way. He created us with the ability to choose good or to choose evil, it was our decision. Because Adam made the wrong choice and brought sin into us and broke the family ties, we were separated from God. We had lost the right and privilege of being righteous before God, of being able to stand before Him. But God, being rich in mercy and being love, did what is impossible—he loved us anyway.

We often keep sinning even now that sin no longer has authority over us but our dishonoring God and His Son when we sin does not nullify the Grace of God or the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When we accept God’s gift, that’s it. We were undone by what we inherited from Adam, but God’s rich love restored us through Jesus Christ. Sin does not have any right to us; we should not give it any more thought.

When we become consumed by sin-consciousness, we concede a victory that has already been won by God and His Son to the enemy. You see, we no longer have the right to sin, and sin no longer has a right to us, and we should no longer spend our time thinking about something that is already past away. We have a debt to righteousness, and are righteous. When we fail to realize that the victory is won, it’s as though the victory was lost—at least on us—and we must not allow our own weaknesses to reduce the greatness of God’s love any longer.