Daily Bread

29 Jan 25

Hebrews 10.11–18

Every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, ‘he sat down at the right hand of God’, and since then has been waiting ‘until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.’ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

‘This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds’,

he also adds,

‘I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Reflect

When I was growing up, the gospel message was, 'Jesus died for our sins so that we can go to heaven when we die.' The unsaid part of this gospel message was that it meant people who did not accept Jesus would go to hell. I have to confess that I struggled with this 'gospel' because it did not sound like 'good news' at all. It was only later, after studying theology, that I discovered that this definition of the gospel fell far short of a much greater and wonderful truth — the truth that God loves the world so much that God wants to see all of creation renewed, and that includes us.

Yes, Jesus died for our sins, and we are sanctified once and for all, but the cleansing of our sins was not an end in itself, but so that God could make home in us by the Spirit. God's laws are now 'in our hearts and minds' and we are called to join with God to bring about the renewal of all creation.

Yesterday, Donald Trump again reiterated his desire to pull the United States of America out of the Paris climate agreement and 'drill, baby, drill', vowing, in the pursuit of wealth, that the US would embark on a new age of oil and gas exploration. Ideas such as this fit well with an 'escapist' gospel where we can leave this world behind in the pursuit of 'heaven' but how do such ideas fit with the greater and wonderful truth?

Pray

Holy God,
Forgive us when we have limited your love for the word,
and sought to take from creation rather than give.
May we be so filled with the Spirit
that we will see the world with your eyes
and join with you in being bringers
of all that is good, positive, and true.
For the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ
Amen

Prayed times.
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