For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12, NIV)
Some days you count the shots you left on the course. Sure, you made a 60-footer at the third, chipped in on the ninth, and received an OB-saving bounce off a tree at the fourteenth. But what do you remember? That missed short putt at the last, that bogey from just 90 yards out. “Oh, I played well, but I could have shot…”
Other days, you’re left to shake your head at most everything and bank your pleasures on that one shot that will bring you back. “Didn’t have much out there today, but at least I made that birdie at seven.”
Sins aren’t really meant to be counted. But it sure adds a dose of perspective when we realize that if we commit just one sin a day—one covetous desire, one grumbling complaint, a bit of loose gossip—and live an average life of 70 years, we’ll stand before Jesus with an accumulation of more than 25,000 sins. Good luck with the “I’m basically good” argument when all that is on your record!
But for all our individual tragedies when it comes to sin, consider more deeply the multitudinous sins of us all. Theologians argue over whether Jesus died for every person or just every believer, but desiring a conservative estimate, we’ll lean to the every believer side. Then let’s venture a guess that worldwide today one in five people have turned their heart over to Jesus. If there are six billion people alive today on the planet, that makes for 1.2 billion believers.1 Every one of them will end their life with that base rate of 25,000 sins. That’s 30 trillion sins among only the believers alive on the planet today.
The precision of the numbers doesn’t really matter. It’s the story of Jesus that blows you away. Because on the cross, Jesus bore the weight of all those sins. Not a representative few. Not only the really bad sins. All of them.
We can never underestimate the love of Jesus. We stand amazed at the raw power of his atonement for us. We are the transgressors, those who sin. He is the one capable Savior, who has taken all our sins on his back and emerged victorious against them for our humble sakes.
1Most surveys point to a higher number by counting the number of “Christian adherents” in the world, arriving at a number of approximately 2.1 billion.
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Jeff Hopper
July 13, 2012
Copyright 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.