You are forgiven. Write that down. Circle it. Put a star next to it. Those are beautiful, life-giving words that we all need to hear.  

Our sin is always a bigger deal than we think it is. Our little lies. Our grumbling hearts. Our selfish desires. Our envious attitudes. Our hurtful words. Our persistent pride. Our lustful desires. We all face sin sickness, and it’s worse than we could ever imagine. 

We often experience the horizontal consequences of sin: broken relationships, tarnished reputations, and suffocating heartache. We’ve been caught and confronted. We’ve been found out and called out. We’ve felt the weight of our sin and the heaviness of despair. But sin doesn’t only have horizontal consequences. It does more than make relationships difficult. Sin separates us from God and brings death. It’s no wonder that we’ve all longed to hear the words, “You are forgiven.” The good news for you and me is those words have been spoken to us. 

You are forgiven. Forgiveness is releasing someone from a debt that they owe and could never payback. Through Christ’s sinless death, God has forgiven your debt. Colossians 2 assures us God cancelled the record of debt and its legal demands of death by nailing it to the cross. He paid it off. He picked up the tab. That doesn’t mean sin won’t confront us, but it does mean it won’t condemn us. 

When the enemy tries to remind you of all the horrible things you’ve said, done, or thought over the years, remember, you are forgiven.