The Cancellation of the Cross
He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, (Colossians 2:13 NASB)
He made you alive together with Him. How did He do so? By having forgiven us all our transgressions. Forgiveness. What a powerful thing it is. Forgiveness is synonymous with salvation. The simple equation is: Forgiveness by God = Salvation for sinner.
We have been released from the grip of spiritual death’s jaws. God has released us by forgiving us of all transgressions. He has done so through Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice thereby making us alive together with Him. God used His Son that forgiveness would come through Him and with forgiveness life.
What a power forgiveness is. Forgiveness is what takes place in the heart of the offended. Is there anything you are carrying around today believer in your backpack of burdens that God has forgiven you of in Christ? It is life-draining to not live in the reality that all your transgressions are forgiven. The psalmist tells us that as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12). Our forgiven transgressions and we ourselves have taken a course in opposite directions in Christ and never shall we meet with them. This is what it is to be made alive.
It is life-threatening to hold back from repenting and confessing sin in your life when the Holy Spirit has revealed and convicted you. Either you are forgiven of all sin, or none. You cannot be partly saved or nearly a Christian. Forgiveness comes to the repentant of heart. True repentance protects not or favors or entertains one single sinful habit. True repentance wants to forsake all sin.
Forgiveness is powerful in the lives of others. What relationship(s) still exist in your life where the death grip of unforgiveness has its hold? Do you need to go and ask forgiveness of someone in whom a root of bitterness holds them prisoner? Imagine the change to come to them if you went and broke through by asking their forgiveness.
Yet there is one more thing. To whom do you need to grant forgiveness? Is there that someone whose life is wasting away living in the shadowed prison of guilt because you will not forgive them? Oh what power you hold over that poor soul. Dear believer in Jesus, you have been granted a new life in Christ by God the Father having forgiven you all your transgressions. Would you not want to grant a new life to this one being held prisoner? You have the power in Christ to set that one free. Why not grant them a gift this Easter season. Give them an Easter to remember in Christ. Set them free.
