Friends: Jesus sacrificed “once for all.” Did He mean it? God forgets our sins. Really? Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #980

August 26, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

What Happened to My Sin?

By Bob Walters

“He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” Hebrews 7:27

“I will forgive … and remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 8:12

Christians spend a lot of time asking for forgiveness for our sins, when what we ought to be doing is acknowledging our sins.  With Jesus – the anchor of our faith and by his death on the cross – the ship of forgiveness has already sailed. His work is “finished.”

Why put Christ back on the cross?  He already sacrificed – perfectly – “once for all.” And why keep that ratty ship of sin moored in our own dock? Is it because we define the quality of our Christian faith against the gauge of our sin?  I think maybe.

If God “remembers our sins no more,” why do we?

The fact is, as long as humans are breathing, we are capable of sinning. And if we are sinning, our own comfort with God is compromised.  Not like God denies our relationship, because what God says and what Jesus did and what the Holy Spirit assures us is that we can trust God’s love, Christ’s work, and the Spirit’s leading.  God’s side doesn’t change; it is our side of the equation that changes. God isn’t seeking our condemnation; the awful weight guilt presses on us – not Him – when we stray.

I believe strongly that it is us/we/me that guilt truly affects.  And it is God we can go to in confession, always, and hopefully confess to a brother or sister we have wronged.  That calms our guilt. If it doesn’t, pray until it does. We all know plenty of our sins – past and current – die a slow death in our own memories.

People may not forgive or forget; in Jesus, we know God has done both.

We must offer great thanks to God’s and scripture’s direction for confession of our sins. The “once for all” sacrifice of Jesus on the cross tells us that Christ was on a rescue mission, not a punitive crusade. God wants our sins erased as much as we do.

Another thing I believe strongly – not to be cynical but to posit what to me appears a plain truth – is that while the presence of guilt ruffles our personal peace of mind, its efficacy dramatically plays into the “powers and principalities” that use guilt to control us.  Satan the accuser plays that card incessantly. My advice? Talk to Jesus, never to Satan. Run and stand in the grace of our Lord. Cling to Him.

Too many Christians love to call each other sinners in an expression of ill-considered self-righteousness.  Too many church hierarchies play sin guilt as a powerful motivator for obedience and financial strong-arming. Satan is always at work.

That plank in my eye? That is what I pray first to be removed so I won’t judge my brother.  I never doubt God’s grace, but we all worry how people respond to our sin. It’s a unique human characteristic: a wildcard variable and “gift” of God – you never know what a human will do. That’s why G.K. Chesterton calls man “the only truly wild animal.”

The greatest relief of my nascent Christian life (I was baptized at 47) was realizing not that I was a sinner, but that God already knew everything I could ever tell Him.  That opened the book to trusting Him with anything I needed to share. I understood that while the work of the cross was forgiveness, the point of the cross was relationship with God.

Are we convicted, chastised, and challenged by God? Yes … but it is for our own good, if we understand our purpose is sharing in God’s glory.  We should thank God when He convicts us and melts our hearts in repentance that restores our peace. 

Never doubt God’s truth, love, or purpose. Forgiveness is already ours.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) doubts his own worthiness but never God’s grace. See also Psalm 32:3-5, Proverbs 28:13, Isaiah 43:25, Micah 7:18-19, Hebrews 10:10:12 James 5:16, 1 John 1:8-10.