Jesus, the Great Equalizer

I wanted to post a thought on John 16:9. Jesus said to His disciples "The world's sin is that they do not believe in Me." He said this in follow-up to His description of the Holy Spirit, in that the Holy Spirit would come to convict the world of their sin. So, if 'their sin' is unbelief in Jesus, how does that work with the old covenant and the law?

The law described many sins, and these sins were not all equal. Much like the government we currently live in, there was more severe punishment for some sins than others. While this is still true in the natural, the impact of Jesus' death and resurrection changed this ideal completely in the eyes of heaven. He died for all sin...the big ones, the little ones, the in-between ones. He died for your evil thoughts, and He died for your evil actions. He died for the gossip, He died for the killer. Since He did not just die but was resurrected and is now seated with God in heaven, He became the great Equalizer for all sin. The new standard of righteousness is now not simply a track record of faithfulness in avoiding the most heinous sins. Belief in Jesus and what He did on the cross for you has the capability of cleansing all sin, while disbelief in His sacrifice disqualifies a person from access to grace through faith, thus opening the way to judgment. This is at the core of the purpose behind the cross. However, many of us still do not understand this great gift that has been given to us through Jesus.

Sometimes we still function with an Old Testament mindset, not only in our personal view of the face of God in our lives, but in our view of others as well. We often view the sin in another person's life and become appalled by it. Why is it surprising to us that man, in the absence of God, lives a life of sin? We are, after all, a fallen people. On the contrary, Jesus came to fulfill His mission to save us "while we were yet sinners". Clearly, in order to follow through with the mission of the cross, Jesus had to be less impressed with the severity of sin than He was with the character and love of God. Jesus reduced the severity of sin to an issue of "Lost" vs. "Found". Once you are found, His light is so much more impressive and dominant than darkness that it is difficult to see your life through the lens of sin again. In short, that is why He can summarize sin as unbelief in Him.

Let's become impressed anew with the power of Jesus in us. Let's cease striving for acceptance, because in relationship with Jesus we have already won it. Let us find true peace in the power of the cross, a peace that opens our hearts to God. From this openness, we gain the capacity to have God impart His heart for others to us. Then we can stop seeing people based on their sin, but rather based on the inestimable value stored in each and every one of us. There's more to come on this topic, but that's an introduction to encourage you:) Talk to you soon!