You will never be sure that you have God’s unmerited favor if you are not sure if God has forgiven you of your sins. Beloved, I want you to know that your sins are forgiven not according to the riches of your good works, but according to the riches of God's grace (unmerited favor).
All your sins—past, present, and future—have been forgiven. Don’t draw a timeline of God’s forgiveness of your sins.
There are some Christians who believe that the forgiveness they received spans only from the day they were born to the day they became Christians. From that point onward, they think that they need to tread very carefully in case they lose their salvation.
This belief is simply unscriptural. Colossians 2:13 states clearly that we have been forgiven of all our sins.
Does “all” mean the same thing to you as it does to me? My Bible says that all our sins have been forgiven by Jesus' one sacrifice on the cross. We have been forgiven once and for all!
The high priests in the old covenant had to offer sacrifices for sins daily. But Jesus, our perfect new covenant High Priest, offered the complete, perfect sacrifice “once for all when He offered up Himself” (Heb. 7:27).
On the cross, He took upon Himself all the sins that you will commit in your lifetime, and once for all paid the full price for all your sins. Christ does not need to be crucified again for your future sins.
In fact, all your sins were in the future when He died on the cross. So when you received Jesus into your heart, ALL your sins were completely forgiven!
Now that you know that your sin debt has been completely cleared and settled by Jesus on your behalf, don’t expect God to deal with you according to your sins. When something negative happens, don’t imagine that God is coming after you because of what you did in the past.
Instead, take God at His Word and expect to enjoy the benefits of the price Jesus paid at the cross for you. And when we understand the heavy price He paid for our sins because of His love for us, sin loses its appeal and hold on our lives. Our Lord Jesus, His grace, and His glory become what we want to pursue and live for.
We will also understand that we sowed nothing good, but through Jesus, we have reaped every good blessing. That, my friend, is called unmerited favor. And you honor what He has done for you by thanking Him and expecting these blessings to manifest in your life every day.
This devotional is taken from the book 100 Days of Favor—Daily Readings from Unmerited Favor. Joseph Prince