Devotion: Colossians 2:14

Colossians 2:14 …having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

I am always amazed when I write something one day, then find it in the next day’s verse. Yesterday our daily prayer thanked God for nailing our sins to the cross and today we have that very verse as our subject. But first we have to look at the beginning of the verse.

Here we see Paul using legal terminology. We know this was not literal, as we are not in a court nor are we on trial. But it is metaphorical and paints a mental picture for us that allows us to better understand what Paul is saying.

We see that this is a continuation of what was previously being said in verse 13. “He forgave us all our sins” is the end of verse 13 and the beginning of our sentence in verse 14. He forgave our sins, canceling our legal debts and charges.  All of the legal charges against us have been canceled, our sins forgiven. All of God’s laws we have broken, all of the bad things we have done, all of the wickedness or lawlessness we have engaged in are gone, wiped clean, expunged.

Those sins no longer condemn us. The debt has been paid in full. We have been given a “Get out of hell free” card. None of it has a claim on our lives any longer. It has been taken away. Not just forgiven, but removed entirely, destroyed, defeated. It no longer exists. We have been set free.

And then we have the visual image that we prayed yesterday. All of our sins and wrongdoing have been nailed to the cross. The payment for our debt was paid in full with the blood of Jesus. His hands and feet bore nails that rightly should have pierced us, but He gave Himself in our place. Our sins were upon Him and thus, they were nailed to the cross, washed away by His blood.

Know that you are forgiven entirely, your sins no longer separate you from Him. You are made new, born again, and free from condemnation. Your debt has been paid. Your legal file doesn’t just have a “Paid in Full” stamped on it. It has been destroyed entirely and exists no more. Praise Him for that!

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