His record

How long I have lived with the basic mentality that when we are saved, God "wipes the slate clean" and therefore can love us, looking at a "forgiven" person. Yet every day, I keep sinning, and feeling that "now God is angry with me because my slate is no longer clean." I know in my head that this isn't theologically correct, but my heart still lived by it.

But God has finally made my heart see! When I am saved, it is not so much as if He wipes my slate clean, then loves me based on how well I keep it clean. It is more as if I come to the throne room of God, and the agents at the door say, "let's look at this person's record to see if they can be admitted." And when they look, they see a notation that says, "see Jesus' record." And looking there, they see a perfect, spotless record; and so in Jesus I am admitted to the presence and love and smile of God.

This is what makes a heart free! This is what causes me to love my God. To live out from under the perpetual burden of guilt. To learn what it is to be "[cleansed] from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb.9:14).

It is not that sin no longer matters; that would be like saying I can offend you and act as though nothing is wrong in our relationship.

But it means that my sin, my perpetual failure to be perfectly what God commands - my sin does not turn away His love from me or close His arms to me. He does not wear a perpetual frown and have a mentality of "I cannot love you at this moment because you are not measuring up." On my own two feet, yes. But not in Christ. In Christ, His record is what matters, though mine keeps getting defiled. Jesus' record is what God looks at, as it were, to see if He can love me at this moment. And that record always passes the test.

Praise be to God!