“It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” (1 Peter 1:19 NLT)
In yesterday’s post I wrote: “His life-sustaining blood has washed every stain from our heart and life, enabling us to do and be for Him and with Him anything He desires us to do and be. Yes, but what about my ongoing sin patterns?” The reality of our lives in Christ is that sin will be an ongoing issue for as long as we live. But how much of an issue is largely up to us. What do I mean?
For many years I wrestled with lustful, wrong, and inappropriate thoughts, attitudes, and actions. And, honestly, I still do on some levels. But, by God’s grace and with His Spirit’s strength, my focus is now so intently zeroed in on Jesus and His plans for me, the devil has his hand’s full getting through my “armor.” Let me see if I can explain why that is.
Think of the most important young person in your life. It can be your child, grandchild, a niece, nephew, anyone you love and with whom you have a connection. Now, for sake of illustration, let’s say you and that child go for a canoe trip on a nearby river or lake. You’re an excellent canoeist and have full confidence in your skills, but you didn’t anticipate the child’s enthusiasm and they begin to jump up and move around, one thing leads to another and over the canoe goes. What’s your first concern?
The child’s welfare, right? That’s all that will occupy your mind until they’re safe. May I ask you a question? Will you likely be concerned about your sin in those moments? Probably not. Why not? Because your mind is so focused on the wellbeing of another that in those frantic moments you have no thought of yourself. What’s my point?
Simply this: sin is only in the forefront of your mind when you give it your permission to be there. Satan is an uninvited guest. Don’t let him in!
The Lord knows our hearts. He knows the intent of our mind in our walk with Him. We need to be so focused on what He wants that we have very little time or energy to devote to giving Satan more than a few seconds of our attention. If we mess up, we need to confess it and move on.
In 1 John 1:9 John writes: “But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” We need to keep our focus on Jesus and obedience to Him, but if we do mess up, we have immediate access to the One who can cleanse us and enable us to keep moving forward for Him.
Something beautiful that Peter in chapter 1, verses 18- 19, helps us to see, is how much Jesus thought you and I were worth. We may never, even in eternity, begin to fully comprehend it, but this is what Peter said: “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom He paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”
The word that Peter uses that’s translated “precious,” means of incalculable worth. You can’t put a value on it. The estimate of the value of global real estate in 2020 was $326.5 trillion. One drop of my Savior’s blood is worth far more than that. That’s how much you’re valued in the eyes of your Father.
Now tell me you can’t bask in that knowledge and let it lift you from the dregs of selfishness and sin so you, under the power of the Holy Spirit living within you, can walk in holiness before the Lord for the rest of your life! Yes! You can!
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 