Is Christ real to me? That is a question Pastor Jose posed this past week for us to ponder. It isn’t easy to yield to someone whom I don’t want to give authority, much less to someone who isn’t real to me. If Christ isn’t real to me, why should I obey Him? If Christ isn’t real to me, why should I pray to Him?
The answer to the question “Is Christ real to me?” — a resounding YES — is summarized in these verses in Colossians. My sin, my flesh, made me dead. Jesus canceled all our debt. This debt condemned me, but now it has been taken away.
If there is a pendulum between knowing I need forgiveness for my sins and feeling like I can do this all on my own, I swing to the side of doing things on my own. If I can be good enough, if I can follow all the rules, then I won’t sin. And if I don’t sin, I won’t need God. Neither of those things are true. I sin and I need God. I need to know the weight of my sin. That’s not because God wants to condemn or make me a public spectacle. If I can come face to face with my sin, I will be able to comprehend the giant debt that Christ has freed me from.
The power of our sin has been disarmed, and our sin has been made a spectacle, not us. When I know the gravity of my sin Christ not only becomes more real to me, but also I feel more deeply the freedom the cross brings.