He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him. - Colossians 1:13-14
The greatest news for the imperfect person (yours truly included) is that all faults have been forgiven. This is the very nature of the power of Christ, to forgive sins, it’s the beginning of our faith, the forgiveness of sins, it is the freedom to know peace found in the forgiveness of sin. What a release of burden it is to know that everything that we have done wrong in our lives, every mistake, every short-coming, it has all be forgiven and wiped away. Yes, even that time that you don’t want to talk about. That is the good news of the Resurrection of Jesus, that through him, we have been accepted and secured to be a part of His Kingdom. Why would we not want to share such news?
Like other things that we have and others don’t, we sometimes have a hard time with sharing. It seems to be a human trait not to share. I’ve watched it happen with children in my own family, and even though we teach about sharing, they still have trouble. So, like anything else with salvation, we accept that the burden has been lifted off of us, but we aren’t as willing to lead another to help lift their burden. We need to remember that this is our task as members of Christ body, the church.
Thomas a Kempis writes: Remember we are all members of Christ, reborn in baptism through the grace of the Holy Spirit, redeemed by the passion of Christ, bathed in the blood of Christ, fed with the body of Christ, educated in the words of Christ, confirmed in the miracles of Christ, motivated by the examples of Christ…One God has created us all, fed us and set our course, called us to one and the same beatitude; and he renews that call daily. How? By exhortations from without, through contrition from within. The same God has promised to see us through to the eternal reward ceremonies, with standing ovation from all the heavenly citizens. If therefore we’ve been unanimously called by God, redeemed for one price, drunk from one Spirit, then let’s love and help each other.
After all, what we say to one another can both lift up and destroy. We have the power to help others with their burdens if we simply share with them the greatest news we have ever heard.
Grace & Peace,
Sam