Jesus' Death and resurrection sets us free! Here's a little more to encourage you...
1/ Our past
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
We have a written code in our heads. It's a list of all the things that we feel we fail in, and all the things that we think we should be like. It’s all we did wrong in the past and can’t change.
“1 Cor 1:18 says “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” It is the Power of God! There is no rest for the tortured soul. But when we come to Jesus he can transform it all! Just come to the Cross and say YES Lord: you've done enough for all my sin! We need to let those burdens GO: taken away for ever. This is what Jesus wants us to have: freedom from the past.
2/ Our Present
So I can be forgiven for all my past sins and can become part of the Kingdom of God. But what about now? How does the Cross affect today?
Col 1:19-20 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20. and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
He made peace. When you became a Christian you were forgiven of all your sins. Yes? So what about when you sin again? Do you need more forgiveness? Does the Cross not have enough forgiveness for you? You have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ NOW. That means you are saved for a relationship with God, a daily experience of his love, and on the days where maybe you can't feel it the knowledge that God will not change his mind.
Rom 8:31-32 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
He died because he loves us: having done all that is he going to stop loving us now? We will never be separated from God again.
3/ Our Future
Heb 9:28 “So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
Jesus was sacrificed once and for all for you and for me. Whether you think you deserve it or not is irrelevant! We can look forward to his return with excitement for he is not coming to judge us, but to complete our Salvation. We will be with Christ for ever, because of the grace of God.
But how about the more immediate future?
Jer 29:11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (NRSV)
You see Salvation is not just about Heaven “one day”. The things that God has been concerned about all along he can now get involved in if you will only take them to him in prayer! What about your material needs? If you will depend on him then he wants to provide for your needs, as well as speak to your spirit. Your WHOLE LIFE can now come under the blessing of God!
Jesus said; Jn 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. We can be transformed by his love and know God in a wonderful way.
