It Is Well With My Soul

1 John 1:5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

When I was 27 I decide that I wanted to follow Christ after certain events took place in my life that convinced me of the truth of scripture. I had a problem though. I recognized the perfection of God and the demands that He made of me to be perfect. So I tried to rid myself of all sin in my life. As each temptation arose in my life, I would sometimes have success only to find two or three more temptations that had taken the place of the previous one. After a couple of months of genuine effort, I came to realize that my efforts were futile. I could not do it.

As I examined scripture, I found more and more ways in which I fell short. I longed to be made right with God, but I could not find a way to cover over my sins that I had already committed and I could not overcome many of the sins that I was struggling with. It was then when I was at my most broken that I read something in scripture that captivated me:

Romans 3: 21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

You see, I was trying to make myself righteous through the law. But the law was the very thing that was condemning me. How could that thing which was condemning me possibly ever justify me? But what if the law was there to point me to Christ? What if it was there to convict me of my sins so that I would know that I was a sinner and that I needed a savior? It was then at my lowest that the message above was made clear to me as if directly from God in answer to my very prayers. The righteousness that I could never attain by works was available to me through the redeeming blood of Christ. His righteousness could be credited to my account and I could be made clean if only I would trust in the sufficiency of His grace.

Oh, what a savior to come and rescue me when I was condemned in my sins! Have you trusted in His promise? Have you nailed your sins to the cross? Can you join me in singing this verse from the beautiful hymn It is Well With My Soul?

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Peace, Bruce