February 15, 2021

One aspect of living in Illinois is the unpredictability of the weather. This winter started off rather mild, but the last several weeks have been historically cold and snowy. The snowfall the last few weeks has been frequent enough to require shoveling the sidewalks on what seems like a daily basis. Somedays it seems that as soon as I would get done shoveling it would either start to snow again or the wind would blow the snow back onto the sidewalk and require me to go back and shovel some more. It has been frustrating to not be able to keep the sidewalk clear of snow for more than a day.

I wonder if Old Testament priests felt frustrated making sacrifices for sins on a daily basis, yet being incapable of actually taking away people’s sins? “And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made his footstool.” Hebrews 10:11-13. Thankfully, Jesus was able to take away our sins forever with one sacrifice! What an image this passage paints, Jesus sitting at the right hand of God waiting for His enemies to soon be under his feet like a footstool. “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14. Jesus’s death and resurrection completed the sacrifice that would allow our sins to be forgiven. But this amazing gift of grace is not all that God has done for us. “But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ‘this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,’ then he adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’” Hebrews 10:14-17. The Holy Spirit also helps us to have God’s law in our hearts and minds. But most importantly, God has promised not to remember our sins and lawless deeds, thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus! What an amazing reassurance, that no matter what we have done, if we repent and ask for forgiveness, God will grant us that forgiveness, since Jesus finished the work of being the sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins!