Thanking God for your salvation will lift your spirit.
“For Luke, true faith is what happens when someone looks at Jesus and discovers God’s forgiveness; and the sign and proof of this faith is love.” – N. T. Wright
Defining some words used here:
Love “agape” – sincere appreciation, high regard, faithful, patient, kind, committed
Pharisee – important religious and political party at the time of this story, having added their own traditions to God’s law.
Sinner – showing a pattern of bad behavior (in this case)
Weeping – crying with a sound that could be heard
Denarii – silver coin equivalent to one day’s wage
Forgiven – to release/remove the guilt resulting from wrongdoing
Faith – to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance
Peace – a set of favorable circumstances involving tranquility, absence of conflict with the presence of something better in its place, “you are made complete/whole”
Relevant verses:
“We have peace with God, through Jesus,” – Romans 5:1
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Jesus Christ when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” – Romans 3:23-24
“If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” – 1 John 1:9
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do good things he planned for us long ago.” – Ephesians 2:8-10
Your sin?
You don’t have to carry it around anymore.
You don’t have to be identified by it.
You are no longer waiting for punishment of your mistakes.
You are made clean. You are made new. You are given a fresh start. You are given new spiritual life.
Love expressed in sincere appreciation.
“Thank You Jesus! I belong here.”
Thank You Jesus! I am forgiven.
Thank You Jesus! I am made clean.
Thank You Jesus! I am free from the compulsion to repeat my mistakes.
Thank You Jesus! I have new spiritual life.
Thank You Jesus! I am saved.
Thank You Jesus! Heaven is my home.
How do we respond?
1. Take time each day this week to thank God for your salvation.
2. This week read verses from today and reflect on what your salvation means.
3. Tell one person something good about your personal story of salvation.