This glorious thought

 

I have always found the story inspiring that is behind the writing of the hymn "It Is Well." For Horatrio Spafford to be able to write those words after all he had gone through, and to write those words right after his boat passed over the location his 4 daughters had drowned when their ship went down is amazing, and should give us pause when we get so easily discouraged by the trials and persecutions in our lives. It is a great hymn, but the third verse has been resonating in me lately:

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!


  For too many years, I couldn't grasp that. I felt there had to be more to it than just repenting and asking God to forgive me. I lived for years feeling there was something else I had to do to be truly forgiven. Part of it may have been my insecurities compounded by fire and brimstone preachers who seemed to delight in making you feel guilty no matter where you stood with God, and part of it may have been struggling with a sin that most Christians have been intent on making out to be the worst sin.

  Regardless of the why, I'd sing that verse over and over and didn't truly grasp it until recent years.
"My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to His cross and I bear it no more." To our mortal minds, it seems too easy. No matter what we have done, God will quickly and easily forgive it and hold it against us no more. Others may hold it against us, and we may suffer the consequences of our actions even after God has forgiven them, but they are gone forever from His sight and He will never again hold them against us. The devil will bring them up and try to make us feel we are still guilty and that we still haven't atoned for our sins, but to the One who truly matters, they are gone forever. Truly a glorious thought far beyond what we will comprehend here on earth.