Justified - Daily Devotional August 25th 2009

Daily Bible Reading Plan - 1 Kings 20, Jeremiah 47, 1 Corinthians 6

Justified (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

I am not sure who invented the eraser but I am so glad they did. I still remember the first time I got introduced to the eraser. I was about 4 years old and I was in this preschool/kindergarten class that met in the bottom of my dad's church. I can't quite remember what I was writing but I remember messing up on it and I was so upset. The teacher came over to see what was wrong and as I explained that I had messed up on my writing she just smiled and pulled out this big pink eraser and started to rub it over my mess up. Right before my eyes...it disappeared!!!! My mistake was gone and now I could start all over. Sure, if I looked really close, I could probably see the indent it left but no one else could see it. I was so overwhelmed with joy that the eraser became my best friend.

As I got older and began to no longer make mistakes with a pencil and paper but rather with my life I realized that God has a big eraser too and he uses it on the sins in my life. In 1 Corinthians 6:11b it says, "you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God". If you read the preceding scriptures you see how powerful this portion of scripture is. You see the filth and the sins that we were cleansed or justified from. I heard a person say one time that "justification" means that God makes it, "just as if I never sinned". In other words, much like my teacher, He has taken an eraser and rubbed it over my mistakes and right before my eyes...they disappear!!!!

I love what the Bible says in Psalm 103:12. It says, "as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us." Wow this is so powerful! He takes all our ugly sins and removes them from us, far from us. Sure I know that I made a mistake and if I look close enough I can see the indent that my sins have left on my life but no one else can see it. Just like a big eraser Jesus Christ came and justified me!!! I am so overwhelmed with joy that He would do this for me, He is continually becoming my best friend.

Today I am allowing Him to rub that eraser over areas of my life so that I can start over. What areas in your life do you need Him to come do His work on? Think about it and allow Him to justify you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the eraser, are you?

Thanks for listening

Tomorrows Bible Reading - 1 Kings 21, Jeremiah 48, 1 Corinthians 7

Dream Big
Ben