Advent: Lamb of God

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”John 1:29

Take a moment and think about the sins that you have committed: lying, cheating, being prideful, judging others, jealousy, and discontentment. These are just to name a few that came to my mind—however, I am sure that there are many more. All these sins complied together would make a book larger than a dictionary. Imagine what your life would be like for every sin you committed if you had to pay the price. When was the last time you had to truly think about how different your life would be if you had to pay the price for all of your sins? Would you be willing to die for those sins? What about the other 7.2 billion people currently living in the world and every human being that has lived before? Could you imagine how much pain and agony that would be to pay for all those sins? What if all the sins that were being put on trial were not yours? What if you had no support during your trial for all of these sins? There is someone who was led to the slaughter, for your sins and mine: the Lamb of God.

Now go back and look at the second half the verse again, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Ponder this a moment. Think of all the sins we committed as a world. We do not have to worry about those sins that we have committed because Jesus took all of them away, with one payment. We can never do anything to repay him for what he has done. We have a free gift that we do not deserve. We should be elated by this verse: We should find our arm hairs and blood levels rising. We have the freedom to live for God without having to pay for our sins! We do not have to carry the weight of each of our sins; they have no hold on us.

I know that I often times forget, or do not fully comprehend, how vast this gift from God is. I forget, in the busyness, to be thankful every day that my sins are paid. I know I have a sinful nature and will continue to keep sinning. This sinful nature makes it difficult for me to continually think about the surmountable gift God has given me, and to bask in God’s glory. However, I think about how differently my life would be if Jesus had not died. I have the love and forgiveness of God above, and nothing can take that away! This unfathomable gift from God allows me to pour his love out into all creation. One last time, let it sink in, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”