In His Name Devotionals
FORGIVING SINS
In His Name Devotionals
FORGIVING SINS
“But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins—then He said to the paralytic, Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” (Matthew 9:6 NKJV)
A young Christian man in the late ‘50s was visiting in a large hospital. A young woman was brought in who had been badly injured by a drunk driver. The young boy was stunned to see that it was his girl friend. There being no hope for her, the boy asked the nurse for permission to simply sit with her until the end came. As he sat looking at his friend and thinking what a pity it was that such a lovely face should have been marred in such a way, she opened her eyes.
“I want you to tell me something and tell me straight,” she said to him. “Do you think God really cares about me? Do you think He will forgive me?”
The nurse, unable to speak, looked at the young man, who didn’t answer at first—not until he reached out to God for help. Holding her hand and in his heart feeling a loving closeness, knowing that together they had recently celebrated being baptized into Christ, he said, knowing it was true: “I’m telling you straight; God cares about you and He loves you. He has already forgiven you.”
Something tremendous happened between God and that young girl that evening. It happened through a young man and it had something to do with what happened long ago on a certain rugged hill far away outside a city wall. That is to say, it was through the forgiving love of Jesus Christ that peace came to a dying girl. She was brought into the warmth and wonder of God’s love. No other gift of the Gospel ever does more than that.
“O wondrous Love, to bleed and die,
To bear the Cross and shame,
That guilty sinners such as I
Might plead Thy gracious Name!”
“…Serving together as God directs” (Philippians 1:27).
