Think back with me to your childhood. Imagine that you and your sibling get into a fight. (If you were an only child, picture fighting with a cousin or close friend.) Now this fight was your fault and you deserved punishment; however, when your parent came in ready to sort out what happened and provide the punishment, your sibling decides to take the blame and gets punished instead of you.
As we are looking at being welcomed to the table this month, I wanted to remind us of the Gospel. I so easily forget the Gospel. I often thought growing up that it was just for people who didn't yet know God. However, as I have gotten older and grown in my faith, I now realize that I need the Gospel everyday. And now that I have accepted Christ's sacrifice for me and I do know God, I realize the Gospel wasn’t just for my salvation but also for living in freedom every single day.
Let’s go back to that “for instance” childhood scenario we were talking about in the beginning, except this time picture yourself in God's family. God is your parent, Jesus is your sibling, and you are the one at fault. Jesus takes your punishment -- not just for the fight you got into, but for anything and everything you’ve ever done wrong!
Paul says in Romans 8:1, "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." No condemnation for anything. Despite all the ways we have strayed from the truth and disobeyed the Word of God, we are found blameless through Christ. Because of Him, God doesn’t see our sin and shame--He sees our Savior.
He also says that we are meant to live free. Romans 5:1 declares, "So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law." Even as believers, we can easily become burdened with “do”s and “don’t”s and legalistic rules. We forget to rest in the freedom of what’s already been done for us. But let's not get ourselves tied up again -- we are free!
We are welcomed with open arms to the table of God, and one day we will see Him face to face and He will look at us and see perfection. No lies, no bad attitudes, no wrong judgements, no mistakes. Just the perfection of His Son Jesus. Now if you're like me, you may have heard this all before, but actually believing it and living like you’ve been declared righteous and set free is hard. The enemy tempts me to condemn myself daily, but I must remember I am now spotless because I am covered by the very blood of Jesus which set me free.
So my challenge for all of us today is to walk free in the Gospel, letting ourselves off the hook. With help from the Holy Spirit, let’s stop condemning ourselves and instead rejoice in what God has given us by welcoming us to the table as part of His eternal family.
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