Paid In Full

I was talking with a friend about the issue of human trafficking and how the evil behind it makes me incredibly sick. I made a comment about how I think that every sick man or woman who sells or buys a woman or child for their own pleasure deserves to have each limb torn off of their body and chopped up into pieces, suffering immense amounts of pain. Then it hit me, I am deserving of the same sentence. My sin put Jesus on the cross every bit as much as each sick pervert who uses innocent girls and children. My sin ripped my Savior's back to shreds just as much as the murderer, the adulterer, the pervert, the thief, and the liar. It was my sin that drove 8 inch spikes through my Beloved's wrists and feet. I am no less deserving of judgement as someone I see as "evil". Granted, evil does exist and is very prevalent in our world, the Bible says that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I deserve hell just as much as the woman who murdered her child and was found "not guilty".

We all deserve hell. We all deserve death. We all deserve execution.

But I suppose that this is the beauty of mercy. Every one of us humans deserve death, but there is a God who is our Forgiver, Redeemer, and Savior. There is no spectrum of sin in His eyes, all sin is the same. Murder and a "little white lie"? Its the same and with the standard of grace there is no difference. People see wrongdoings and sin as having a scale of "okay" to "death deserving", when really, God sees it as all the same. We all deserve the same fate. But because of the mercy of God, we can have forgiveness and be saved from hell.

I don't think we understand the gravity of what we have been saved from. We were saved from an eternity of complete separation from the presence of God. An eternity of suffering. An eternity of loneliness. Jesus came down and became one of us, and took back the keys of death, and plucked us up from the power that hell had over our lives. We have been made new. Free.

I am guilty. But the precious blood of Jesus has washed over me and cleansed my sins. He nailed my sins to the cross and marked my life, my wickedness, "PAID IN FULL." He paid for all of our lives. The price has been paid. So, as easy as it is to judge and comment about how horrible someone is, we must strive to live to demonstrate the same mercy we have been shown. Every life has a sign nailed to its soul, stating "Paid In Full.", if they accept the gift of Christ Jesus. Forgiveness is available to all who will humble themselves and simply ask for it.

Will you continue to carry around a debt you could never pay, or will you accept the free gift of Jesus and let Him wash you in His blood so that when God looks at you, He sees that you have been marked, "PAID IN FULL."?

James 2:13 "There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you"