40 Days In The WordSample

Jesus Paid for It All You don’t have to live with guilt, regret, or shame anymore. Too many people are stuck with memories from their past that they can’t get over. Either you’ve been hurt and have resentment or you’ve hurt someone else and you have guilt. God doesn’t want you to carry that heavy baggage throughout your life. He wants you to be free. That’s one reason God gave us the Bible. He uses his Word to eradicate our guilt. I remember many years ago, when I was preaching, a woman came up to me in tears. She began to pour out a very sad story to me, complete with all the bad mistakes she had made. She was distraught and weeping profusely. She kept saying how very guilty she felt. Then I read her 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (NIV). It’s the soap-dish verse. God says he’ll give you a bath; he’ll get rid of the dirt on your life, forgive you, and wipe away your sins. Then I took her to Romans 8:1: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” She asked, “You mean all the things I’ve done wrong in my life, God’s not going to punish me for?” Nope. “Why?” she asked. Because Jesus paid for those things. “What about those I’ll commit tomorrow?” she asked. Jesus paid for those, too. God’s Word cleanses the dirt, cleans up my mind, and washes my body. It gets all the dirt, the junk, the grime, the grit, the shame, and the sin out of my life. The Bible says in Ephesians 5:25-26: “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.” This devotional © 2014 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.