Speaking Of Life 1018 | Blessed are the Forgiven
Michelle Fleming
This year, the average college student will graduate with over $35,000 in student loan debt. For many, the repayment plans offered are an unbearable expense that can be a barrier to financial stability. It is a crisis that is strangling the hope for many in my generation.
For five years I experienced the stress of budgeting on a teacher’s salary and accounting for loan repayment. Then I hopefully applied to a government loan forgiveness program for educators. The happiness I experienced in receiving my forgiveness letter was like a tsunami of relief. All my debt was wiped away.
I learned that there is freedom in forgiveness! Suddenly I saw opportunities that were not possible only moments before.
David describes the joy of experiencing forgiveness in Psalm 32:1 -2
Our God, you bless everyone whose sins you forgive and wipe away. You bless them by saying, “You told me your sins, without trying to hide them, and now I forgive you.”– Psalm 32:1-2 (CEV)
We are all in need of forgiveness. Instead of turning to God we try to rely on our own feeble strength to clean up the messes we make and the debt we incur. In Psalm 103 we are told God removes our sins as far as the East is from the West. The group Casting Crowns has a hit song about that promise, with the poignant question:
“Jesus can you show me just how far the East is from the West?” The answer: “From one scarred hand to the other.”
We are forgiven because of Jesus. The covering of our sin is covered by his shed blood. One of the few statements Jesus made while on the cross was, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Jesus came to take the penalty of all our sin – past, present, and future. His shed blood covers it all. But he didn’t just cover it, he did more.
Notice one of the most amazing promises in the Bible, found in 2 Corinthians 5:21.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Jesus didn’t just cover our sin, he took our place in it, so that we could live in freedom – righteous and forgiven.
The liberation I felt receiving my student loan forgiveness letter pales in comparison to the freedom I experience in Christ. Rest in this truth today, blessed are you for your sins have been forgiven.
What a sweet relief!
I’m Michelle Fleming, Speaking of life
