whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:6,7
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been interested in the future. From those first space flights launched from Cape Canaveral that just went up and down, to the first programs that I wrote with punch cards, there’s been this thing about the future. Yes, we were excited with what was happening right now, but there was something special and thrilling about what was just around the corner.
The future is still a very powerful idea that people spend lots of time and money on. For people with money in stocks, they want to know which way the market is going so they can buy or sell just at the right time. Ahead of everyone else. Or from the privacy of their cell phones, people place sporting bets on the future. While it used to be that the only bet you could make was on who’s going to win, today you can bet on the future of an individual play.
You see, people playing the stock market and betting on sports are both looking to the future. If they know the future, then they can better make decisions. And in their case, success is more than just saying that they were right. The object of both is to win. And winning is measured in money.
We’ve got this idea that the more we know, the better we’ll be able to predict the future. If we gather more and more information, if we look at all the different things that might affect what’s going on, then we’ll be in the best possible position to make the right decision.
And to a point, this is right. We can always know more about the economy. About an industry. About a stock. About a player. About a coach. About a team. And the more that we know can have an impact on a stock. On a game.
There’s always the unknowns. In the stock market, no one predicted 9/11 and the way that stocks fell in the following weeks. We kept thinking that it couldn’t get any worse. But then it did. And in sports, one player might have the game of their career that leads to a great upset. In both cases, having all the information in the world could not have predicted future events.
When Jesus died, he poured out himself and his blood on the cross. But unlike any other sacrifice every performed, his was a once-and-for-all sacrifice was for all sin. Past. Present. Future.
Think about this for a minute. If Jesus’ death covered the debt for all sin, then why would you ever need to make another sacrifice? The short answer is never. Why? Because it had already been fully taken care of. There is no need to ever make any other payment for sin. Ever.
Our approach to life and finances is simple. We pay cash for everything except for a house. We pay off our bills and credit card each month. The last car we bought, a 2020 Tesla Model 3, we saved up for and drove away with the car title that only had our names on it. No loan company. No bank. No finance company. We never got a monthly invoice. Why? Because it was paid for.
So, what should I do if someone sends me an invoice for the car? There’s no doubt. I know it’s a lie. It has to be a scam and I immediately block that email address. I report it to my email provider. And I might also notify the police.
I’ll tell you something else that I’ll do. I won’t think about it. I won’t cry myself to sleep at night. I won’t run around like a chicken with its head chopped off because I’m worried to death.
And that should be our approach when the enemy throws past sins in front of us. We need to remind ourselves that Jesus death is more than enough to cover the cost of all our sins. We need to pull out God’s title for us that’s marked, “Paid in full.” Jesus took the list of all our sins and nailed it to the cross[1].
I think that the earth-shattering importance of Jesus’ one-time payment for all sin just sort of slips by. In our desire to do more things, this once-and-for-all payment of Jesus drifts by. For some reason, it doesn’t grab our attention because there’s so very few examples of anything like this in our life.
What else do we do in our daily lives that’s done once and for all? I took out the trash this morning. But guess what, I’ll do it again next Thursday. I washed dishes last night and the sink is still empty. But not for long. It will fill up with dirty pots and pans soon enough. I swept the floor only days ago and they’re already showing signs that they need to be cleaned. Again.
But not when it comes to our forgiveness before a holy God. Anything less than a one-time payment in full would not be enough. And because all sin has been paid for, we can look toward the future with great hope and expectation. There’s no judgement to fear. And the deepest desire of our hearts will be to please the one who loves us. The one who paid our debt and set us free.
Noodling Questions
Why are/aren’t you the kind of person that thinks about the future?
How can the fact that all our sins are forgiven change us?
What freedom have you experienced through the forgiveness of God?
[1] Colossians 2:14
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