181. He Declared Me Holy

Romans 3:24

I always thought I was in trouble with God. I knew I deserved to be punished and I always walked around through life sort of flinching - waiting on the hammer to fall. I grew up in church, so I knew the message of the Gospel. (Or at least, I thought I did) I knew that Jesus died to pay for my sins. I accepted Christ. I believed that He had died for me. I believed that He loved me, but there was this nagging discomfort in my faith. If I could have put my finger on it, I would have said that I believed that God was tired of me. After all, I sort of always continued to fall into the same sins over and over again. From God’s point-of-view, I was an impossibly frustrating and predictable sinner. Yes, Jesus died to pay my penalty and yes He loved me, but dang! My view of the Gospel made me feel like a dog that just can’t quite learn to be housebroken. The owner lets me live in the house, but I’m a disappointment, and I know it. The good news is, I was wrong about the Good News. The message of the Gospel is that not only did Jesus die to forgive me, but when I came to Him for forgiveness, He gave me something more: He gave me His own righteousness. God has declared me as Holy as Jesus Himself. That means that when God looks at my life, not only am I forgiven, but it’s as if I’ve lived every moment just as beautifully as Jesus would have done in my life. Wow! God’s not tired of me; He’s blown away by me! Now, that’s Good News.