Paid in Full!

 

CANCEL = to erase v. — to remove by or as if by rubbing or wiping off, to cause something to cease by obliterating any evidence, eliminate, do away with, wipe out, abolish.

At one point in our lives we had two mortgages. One was on our current residence and the other on a new house we were building. That debt was scary — at least until we moved into the house and sold the condo. Years later, that second mortgage was also paid and we will never forget the feeling of being debt-free.

How much greater the joy of knowing that my debt of guilt for sin has also been paid, obliterated, abolished.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13–14)

This CANCEL word is translated several ways. Acts 3:19-20 says, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord . . . .” Revelation 3:5 also uses the same term: “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” (Revelation 3:5)

Revelation 7:17 and 21:4 refer to God wiping away every tear from the eyes of those who join Him in eternity. As wonderful as that is, the vital truth is that God wipes out the record of our debts which were against us. When Jesus said, “It is finished” He may as well have said, “Sin’s debt is paid in full!”

This morning the news came to me that a dear friend’s husband died of Covid. He believed in Jesus and had his debt of sin wiped clean. The Bible says:

God saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, (2 Timothy 1:9–10)

Yet people still die, at least physically. A commentator answers this by saying: “The fear of death as having power to terminate or affect our personal existence and our union with God, as a dreadful stepping out into the unknown and unknowable and as introducing us to a final and irreversible judgment, has been removed.” Hurray!

Christ has abolished the sting of death and destroyed the devil who has the power of death. His resurrection defeated that foe taken death’s sting away by blotting out all its hurtful power. Death is under His control: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (Revelation 1:17–18)

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:26) Jesus ‘inactivated’ death and brought to light the incorruptible life beyond physical death, eternal life with Him! This comforts me — my friend who died is now with Jesus and more alive than he ever was!

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Jesus tells a parable to illustrate the response to knowing He has wiped out and totally cancelled my debt of sin.

“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.” (Luke 7:41–43)

The longer I’ve been a Christian, the more I realize the power and presence of sin and how easily I can fall into running my own life, ignoring God and adding to that debt of sin. Yet it is paid in full! As Jesus says, realizing the size of it and enormity of what Jesus has done for me deepens my love for Him. This is what that should do in my life — just as a paid mortgage frees up funds to be used in other ways, the Lord wants my debt-free life used in other ways — clearly to express my love for Him by obedience and by loving others as He has loved me.

 

Tackling today’s to-do list . . .

Leviticus 4; Psalms 1–2; Proverbs 19; Colossians 2

These days, advice on how to live comes in from many directions. CNN tells the latest news, sometimes the latest fads and cures and if they don’t make it there, they will certainly be posted on social media. I feel inundated with instructions about wearing masks, not wearing masks, what I can do or not, never mind my own set of habits for living.

Today God offers me two main thoughts about all this information. First, He tells me this:

“Blessed is the (one) who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1–2)

While many people think that Christianity is about living by a code or a list of rules, that is not so. The Bible is clear (at least to me) that I am to walk according to the leading of God’s Holy Spirit. That means knowing what His Word says and knowing how to listen to that still, small voice that says, “This is the way; walk in it.”

I’m warned about human ideas and rules too. They might look good or make me look good, but they have no value:

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily . . . Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ . . . . If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:8-9; 16-17; 20–23)

These warnings about legalism, mysticism and asceticism are associated with physical self-denial. But remember, Eve was told to not eat from the tree, but Satan added that she could not even touch it. I need to watch out where such advice might come from. Also, my devotional guide says asceticism arises out of guilt and reminds me that Christ has taken away all human guilt by His death.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13–14)

I am not obligated to obey human rules. The world can live by the world’s rules but I am to live by the power of the Spirit united with Christ. I have died to sin: “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless” (Romans 6:6).

This is the biggest reason I need to be alerted to doing things by habit, by the power of me. While I might seem capable, Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15) certainly meaning nothing that is edifying for me or fruitful for others and for eternity.

Therefore He is instructing me again to pray, to seek His guidance and power before I do ANYTHING on that to-do list. He says, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21). I know this is true, but the habit of life is not praying, just doing and at that end of the day wondering if anything I did had any value.

APPLY: I need the Spirit’s constant reminders to “pray without ceasing” and a constant sense of need so I will seek His will for everything. For this, I also need Him to do it for He is the vine, my source of life and I am a mere branch. This mere branch needs assurance because I am sometimes disconnected. Yet He affirms that when I forget and go ahead in my own strength, the blood of Christ has already covered my failures:

“ . . . If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the LORD’s commandments about things not to be done and does any one of them . . . and the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4:2; 35)