How many times have you messed up in your life? If someone were to write down every sin you’ve committed, how many pages would it take? How high would the count go? As we read the Old Testament, it can be easy to feel a sense of superiority when we see the sins, lack of trust, and outright disobedience of its people. But what if every detail of our own lives were written out just as plainly?
Time and time again, the Bible shows that God does not tolerate sin. What He commands matters, and disobedience has consequences. Yet, even as the Old Testament shows the countless failures, it also shows that God continually calls His people back to Himself. Again and again, He offers restoration to those who choose to come back to Him.
Reading of this, points us to the hope fully revealed in the New Testament, the hope that we have in Christ. That overwhelming number, the sins that could fill countless pages, is erased through Christ (Colossians 2:13–14). We may have a long list of sins before coming to Christ, and after we still may stumble at times, but yet God remains faithful, calling us back to Him (2 Timothy 2:13).
What a privilege it is to be in Christ. In Him, we find hope, mercy, and the assurance that no failure is beyond God’s redeeming grace. All it takes is us being willing to submit to Him and return in the way that He has decreed.
Josh Schutkowski