Paid In Full

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:7 (NIV)

What happens if you show up to Heaven mostly clean?

We have a little Boston terrier named Sassy, and Teresa loves that puppy, I’ll admit, more than she loves me. But even Teresa won’t let that dog in the house if even one paw is muddy. If God only cleansed you from most of your sin, or even 99.9% of it, you’d be no better off. 

A person who’s only partially clean is still completely dirty. That’s why God won’t let anything or anyone into His Heaven unless they’ve been cleansed from all of their sins.

Today’s verse says that Jesus’ blood purges you from all sin. All means all. So many people think salvation is on an installment plan, like when you buy a house: You make a down payment, then spend years paying the rest off in monthly installments. They live like Jesus made the down payment for their sins when He shed His blood on the cross, and now they have to make the installments by going to church, living right, and “being a good person.”

Those things are wonderful and should accompany salvation, but they have nothing to do with producing it. The good news is this: When Jesus shed His blood on the cross, He paid off the entire mortgage.

Just before He breathed His last, He said, “It is finished.” Those three words in English, translated from one word in Greek, literally mean “paid in full.” It’s one thing to sign a note promising to pay something off. It’s another to sign it in your own blood.

Stop making monthly payments on a debt Jesus already covered completely. Walk into Heaven clean, because He already paid it all.

Prayer: Father, thank You that Jesus paid off my entire debt on the cross and didn’t leave me even a small balance to pay. Help me stop trying to make payments on something You already finished. In Jesus’ name, Amen.