Just as if I

Justified. Do you know what that means? It means ‘Just as if I’d never done anything wrong.’

Rom 3:24 says that we are ‘justified freely by His grace.’ 

What I love about God is that when God does something, there are no half measures, no ‘sort ofs’ with Him. No, He does things completely, thoroughly, one hundred per cent and irreversibly. And when He justifies us, the reality is that it is literally as though we had never sinned.

All of our past sins are completely wiped out – they are removed from us (‘as far as the East is from the West’ Ps 103:12) and not only that, He doesn’t even remember them! (‘I will remember your sins no more’ Isa 43:25.) I can’t tell you how He does it, only that the bible says that He does. So if you want to go and remind Him of what you’ve done wrong, He’ll only ask you what on earth you are talking about. Why? Because He has, through His divine power, removed the memory of them from his Mind! He does not remember the things you’ve done wrong. He’ll never rehash your past mistakes or remind you of your failures because He just doesn’t even remember that they occurred! (If only fellow Christians were better at forgetting our misdemeanours huh?!)

That’s right – we stand before Him clean and innocent – regardless of what we did last year, last month, last week or in the last minute. That’s why, when you understand that, you understand how you can ‘come BOLDLY into His throne room of grace’ (Heb 4:16). Only those who truly understand that they are righteous, they are without fault, they are clean and forgiven can come with ease into God’s presence – and can stand before Him boldly and ask for what they want. That’s what He longs for – and that’s exactly why He made us new (2 Cor 5:16-21) – because not only did sin separate us from a Holy God, but it also brought a sense of shame and fear in His presence. And no one can enjoy a loving, close, satisfying relationship with someone who fears them and feels ashamed to be around them.

So realise who you are, realise how He sees you  – a saint and not a sinner – and enjoy the companionship and friendship with a God who loves being around you, and loves to have you be around Him.