True freedom!

It seems to be quite a rare thing nowadays for people to put their hand up and take the blame for their misdemeanours. I’m nor sure I can remember, for instance, the last time I heard a politician do that (even when apparently caught red handed), and when Tiger Woods steps up and admits the full shame of his philandering and the betrayal of his wife, he is immediately suspected of engaging in some stage-managed ploy to save his brand name.

I guess you don’t have to look very far to realise that actually we are all pretty skilled at sidestepping blame and pushing it onto others. We started young didn’t we? No child has to be taught the line “It wasn’t my fault, it was him!”, and the innocent look to go with it comes quite naturally from a very young age.
And yet that inbuilt reflex to sidestep, although employed in the name of self-preservation, actually has the opposite effect of leaving us diminished and uncomfortable, because when we sidestep we take our guilt with us.

Easter celebrates the most liberating truth of the Christian message, that instead of sidestepping we can stand right where we are and have our sin and guilt lifted from us forever, as we humbly admit “Guilty as charged” and look to Jesus to step into our place and take our blame on himself.
Martin Luther put it like this: ‘Christ alone bears our sins. Therefore beware, as you place your sins on your conscience, that you do not panic, but freely place them on Christ…. Hence you must say: “I see my sin in Christ, therefore my sin is not mine but another’s. I see it in Christ.” It is a great thing to say confidently: “My sin is not mine.” “My sins have been transferred to Christ; He has them!”

Jesus died on a cross, taking yours and my sin upon himself, so that if we will put up our hands and admit “Yes, guilty as charged” and put our faith in Him to save us, then just as Jesus rose from the dead, so we too can enjoy full forgiveness, a clear conscience, and the newness of life that comes from knowing Him.

This is true freedom!

Goff