Being present when a soul realises that God can forgive even them, is a beautiful and blessed thing. Seeing their countenance lift and their shoulders relax in Christ’s love, is truly a delight to behold.
I studied with a lady who believed that she was condemned to hell for sins committed against people long dead. When understanding from scripture that God forgives the penitent of heart, all her doubts and fears disappeared. From the day she was baptised until the day of her passing, she joyfully served God; the God who showed her grace where she thought there was none.
Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). The reaction of his hearers, whom John said were believers in him, was to insist that they had never been enslaved. Jesus, ignoring their poor memory about the numerous empires that had enslaved them, addressed the real problem:
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34).
By its very nature, Jesus’ message of grace brings freedom. Freedom from those destructive forces of sin: guilt, hate, anger, addictions, bitterness and unforgiveness (to name but a few). But it goes further. When a person stops lying, all manner of relational toxins disappear; honesty clears the air.
It should jolt us that Paul would say to the Ephesian brethren, “So you must stop telling lies. Tell each other the truth, because we all belong to each other in the same body” (Ephesians 4:25NCV). Of course, the reason it doesn’t shock us is because we are so used to lies and half-truths being spoken around us that we become deaf to them.
The freedom that truth brings is from a life locked in darkness.
“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
John Staiger