22^nd February

“…You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received with you heard the Good News…”

Colossians 1:21-23a

Today’s verse is such a wonderful and confirming truth about who we are in Christ and our position in Him. Once enemies of Christ, now we stand in His very presence. When we stand before God, He doesn’t see someone who just lied, thought or did something bad, or a miserable sinner. No! He sees His child; His child that is free from the stain of sin, without a single fault, because Jesus Christ has paid our penalty and cleansed our sin by His sacrifice. Perhaps we need to hear that again. We stand before Christ without a ‘single fault’. Isn’t that incredible. He has completely forgiven us, completely washed us clean and completely made us new.

Of course this does not give us the license to live reckless lifestyles or negate asking God daily for forgiveness when we mess up. What it does do is affirm, that even though we do mess up, our position as children of Christ doesn’t change. His love for us stays the same. His sacrifice, once and for all doesn’t change. And our position in Him and how He sees us, doesn’t change. This knowledge releases you from condemnation. Stand firm in it. Don’t drift away from it. Let this truth give you hope and courage. Let it make you steadfast and un-wavering in your faith. And finally let it fill you with joy. You are God’s blameless child.