Day 17, Year 1

Lord Jesus will Save Us from Our Sins

An angel of the Lord said to Joseph concerning Mary, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21 NKJV)

“He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8 NKJV)

According to the first verse of today, one critical tenet of Christianity based on the Bible centers on Jesus who saves His people from sins. As mentioned yesterday, in the way of righteousness is life (Proverbs 12:28). If any Christians walk on a so-called path of following Jesus but result in more sinning, it is not the way of righteousness stated in the Bible, but a path of unrighteousness. Today, instead of going into great detail about Jesus’ salvation, I am going to highlight several key points of it.

Indeed, some self-righteous or prideful people might feel they have sinned more after truly believing in Jesus. This is not because Jesus promotes sinning, but because His salvation dismantles self-righteousness and pride, thereby exposing their hidden sins. To illustrate, whether they believe in Jesus, they tend to see themselves as superior or holier than others. Out of mercy, Jesus would unveil our inner wickedness and ugliness, while nullifying all excuses for self-righteousness or pride. This process helps believers to understand that following Jesus is incompatible with self-righteousness, pride, or other negative traits. He then delivers us from all sins, causing us to detest the snares of sin, and freeing us from the devil’s deception.

Some people come to understand why they sinned under the devil only after believing in Jesus, for He comes to eradicate the devil’s works within believers. “Devil” in the second verse of today, diabolos in Greek, means “calumniator, false accuser, slanderer.” Although the devil would accuse any child of God, Jesus intends to eliminate all of its accusations. Some people, perhaps influenced by their negative upbringing, might perceive an inadvertent mistake as an unforgivable sin. However, the truth of God reveals that Jesus is willing to forgive anyone who believes in Him, including the sins committed out of ignorance or inability to resist. The righteousness of Jesus replaces our unrighteousness as we trust in Him, and this serves as believers’ starting point on the path of God’s righteousness.

Reflection questions:

1) Jesus wants to save you from your sins, how do you feel about this?

2) The Lord wants to remove all false accusations and slanders against you, how would you cooperate with Him in this matter?