“Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” – Luke 7:47
Much of our openness and passion for Jesus depends on how well we understand our personal track record of sin. The fundamental mission of Jesus was to redeem sinful people from their sin and the eternal separation from God that it caused. Jesus lived a sinless life, died a terrible death on a cross, and rose from the dead to atone for our sins and set everyone who believes in Him free from those sins and their consequence.
For those who don’t think they’ve sinned, that doesn’t have much appeal. For those who think they’ve only sinned a little, that may sound nice but doesn’t seem like a big deal. In this verse, that’s the fundamental difference between a woman who understood her lifetime of sin and shame and what Jesus did for her and a religious man who didn’t care about Jesus because he didn’t think he’d sinned all that much. What about you? How bad is your record of sin?
If you say you haven’t sinned, you’re lying to yourself (see 1 John 1:8, 10). If you think your sin isn’t that bad (perhaps because you haven’t killed many people) you don’t understand sin (see Romans 6:23). Every single person on earth has sinned! We’ve all disobeyed God’s perfect, holy standard for living because we’re fundamentally self-centered beings who hate to submit to God’s authority. He made you and has absolute authority over your life. For that reason, all sin is violent rebellion against the God of the universe! All sin is treason against the King! All sin separates us from our Holy Creator Who is the source of life. All sin is vile and brings death upon us. All of it!!!
That’s what Jesus came to rescue you from. On the night before His death, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying that God’s cup of righteous wrath for your sins would pass from Him. But He submitted to God because you don’t always. On “Good Friday”, Jesus was nailed to a cross and experienced that wrath. He suffered and died so your sins could be forgiven – all of them – and you could be reconciled in peace and love to God in Heaven. Think about your sins that sent Jesus to that cross. Think about your forgiveness in Jesus Christ and rejoice! Love Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength! #FollowJesus