Jesus completed the great act of atonement after being resurrected to heaven. Reunited with his beloved Father, he presented to Him the value of his sacrifice. Great blessings followed. Complete forgiveness became available, first for the sins of Christ’s anointed brothers, then for “the whole world’s.” Because of that sacrifice, today all who sincerely repent of their sins and become genuine followers of Christ can enjoy a clean standing before Jehovah God. (1 John 2:2) How do you fit in?
Let us return to the illustration given at the outset. Suppose the doctor who finds the cure to the disease were to approach the patients in your ward with this offer: Any patient who accepts treatment and follows the prescribed regimen will without fail be cured. What if most of your fellow patients refused to follow the doctor’s direction, arguing that it would be too much trouble to take the medicine or adhere to the prescribed regimen? Would you go along with them, even though you had convincing evidence that the cure really worked? Of course not! No doubt you would express thanks for the cure and then follow the doctor’s instructions carefully, perhaps even telling others of your choice. In a far greater sense, each of us should be eager to show Jehovah just how much we appreciate the deliverance that he has made possible through the ransom sacrifice of his Son.—Read Romans 6:17, 18.
If we appreciate what Jehovah and his Son have done in order to deliver us from sin and death, we will show it. (1 John 5:3) We will fight against our tendency to sin. Never will we give in to the willful practice of sin and lead the hypocritical double life that often goes with it. Such a course would amount to saying that we do not value or appreciate the ransom at all. Rather, we will show our appreciation by working hard to stay clean in God’s sight. (2 Pet. 3:14) We will show it by sharing with others our wonderful hope of deliverance, so that they too may have a clean standing with Jehovah and the hope for an eternal future. (1 Tim. 4:16) Surely Jehovah and his Son are worth every bit of the time and energy we can devote to praising them! (Mark 12:28-30) Think of it! We can look forward to the time when we will be fully cured of sin. We can live life as God meant it to be, in perfection, forever—all because of what Jehovah has done to deliver us!—Rom. 8:21.
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