Devotional: Romans 4:7-8
7 “Oh, what joy for those / whose disobedience is forgiven, / whose sins are put out of sight. 8 Yes, what joy for those / whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.” (NLT)
Joy.
What a small and simple word, for such a complex thing. Complex and elusive. Joy seems to be absent from so many things these days.
This verse from Romans quotes Psalm 32:1-2 in it, and Psalms are always a complex, yet simple, thing. Who wouldn’t feel joy when their disobedience is forgiven? When they’ve been cleared of sin? Someone who doesn’t quite believe it’s clear yet, and continues to carry the hurt and pain with them.
Who would consider doing that? Well, probably most of us would do it, without even considering it. How often do we still carry the weight of some petty offence from years ago? An embarrassing moment? Something said once we can never take back?
I can’t even count the number of times I’ll be enjoying a moment when some thought or phrase or a scene on a TV show reminds me of something embarrassing from my past. I’ve had a few moments like that, some more public than others, some only within my own mind, but still as the thought passes through my mind I relive the experience. “What if I had done this” or “what if I had said that” … would the outcome have been any different? Likely not. The other people there would still have forgotten it, and I would still be cringing about it decades later. Why do we do that to ourselves? I’m sure I’m not the only one who does it … am I?
If I am, then this is still good for me to write about, in case anyone else out there may ever have it happen to them. Do we continue to carry the weight of sins or even minor blips that we should have let go decades ago? What about continuing to pick up and carry something even though we’ve given it over to Jesus time and time again? What does it say when we give something to Jesus in faith, knowing that he’s got it, he can carry it without any burden, and we take up his yoke of Good News and love in its place? What are we saying?
“Sorry, I don’t think I can let this go yet, I’m not done letting it weigh me down. I’m not ready to give this up or stop stewing over it, even though I am the only person who still remembers this event ever happened. I’m not ready to let my pride go and give over to humility. I’m not ready to be free and joyful.”
“I’m not ready to have that much faith in you, Jesus.”
Do we really want to say that? I really hope not. It’s weird even seeing it in type, to be honest. Jesus paid so much for us, he chose to walk through torture, shame, embarrassment, pain, and even death so that we would be free. And what do we do? Do we appreciate all the hard work and sacrifice he went through to free us from our burdens, our shame, our sins? Or do we try to carry these petty grievances, these petty moments that haunt our lives, because it makes us feel like we earned our stripes or paid our dues?
Jesus paid for every stripe and earned every due for us before we were ever born. Life is what we go through, and much of it is painful and embarrassing. We go through life experiences, and sometimes even through horrific circumstances.
But we do not have to carry them with us. We do not have to wear them every day like an old jacket with tons of pockets filled with old hurts or wounds that we can pull out at random. We do not have to constantly recall them to remind us of what we went through to get to where we are. We truly can simply stop, thank Jesus for what he has done to free us all from our past, our sins, our pains, our hurts, and to carry those for us through life, so that we can experience that which he paid for.
So that we can have joy. We can rise each morning with joy and love in our hearts, knowing that our sins are clear, our slates wiped clean, because of the love of Jesus.
That is true joy.
So don’t burden yourself anymore. Release your pains and your worries. Let go of your past, your sins, your shame. It is not ours to own. Only joy. Thank you, Jesus! Amen.