If your child or a loved one came to you asking the following question, what would your honest answers be: Are you holy, impeccable and unblemished? Well, I know myself very well and, unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to answer yes to any of the three. I suspect, like all of us, you too would have to hang your head and say no, we don’t make it.

Sometime during the day we make the wrong choice and fail miserably.

But when God looks at me and you, he sees all of us as holy, impeccable and unblemished. He doesn’t see my unholy actions, my blemishes or a need to reproach me. All because of Jesus’ death on the cross. His blood that was spilt made it possible for God to see us differently.

²²But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust …

The King James Version puts it so beautifully: ²¹And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled ²²In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight …

God sees you as holy. He sees you as unblemished. He sees your impeccable deeds. But, honestly, I want to call out to Paul and say, no, you don’t know Gert. My life is not like that, o no! Walk with me for a day or two, then you’ll see all the unholiness in my life. You will see all the blemishes of my actions and that I often deserve to be held accountable.

And then Paul’s words ring through my head: Jesus came to make peace between you and God. God sees me as holy, without blemish and impeccable. That’s it. It doesn’t matter what your past looks like. It doesn’t matter what you think about yourself. It doesn’t even matter what the reality is. God sees you differently.

It doesn’t really make sense to me, because it’s beyond my understanding. Yes, I’m only human and I don’t always understand how God works. It’s on another level.

But … it’s the truth and we people must get our heads around it. Jesus’ spilt blood makes us irreproachable before God. We need no longer be scolded for the wrong things we did. We need no longer be punished for our sin, because Jesus was already punished for it.

Wow, are you also flooded with gratitude? Do you also now want to do something to show how grateful you are for God’s intervention in our lives? Well, then it is probably a good idea to start living exactly the way that God sees us, holy, unblemished, impeccable. And by the way, the King James Version talks about us now being unblameable. We must live in such a way that we cannot be blamed for wrong deeds.

May we all try to live the way that God sees us. May others look at us and see that we are holy, impeccable and unblemished by sin.

Scripture

Colossians 1:21-23

Reflection

Do you see yourself as holy, unblemished and impeccable?

What did Jesus succeed in doing?

How can you change your life so that you can live more holy, unblemished and impeccable?

Prayer

Our Father and Jesus Christ, I don’t understand everything. I cannot understand that You see me as holy, unblemished and impeccable. I do know it is Jesus’ blood that did this. Therefore, I have to get my life in order. Please give me the strength and wisdom to live it. Amen.