At Easter we celebrate the good news that God wipes the slate clean.
I was in deep video trouble late last year. I received a letter from Video Ezy stating that I had not returned a DVD from 6 months before and had racked up a very big fine.
I looked everywhere for the DVD at home and couldn’t find it. Had I lost it? Had I returned it and they had never swiped it off?
The letter stated that if I did not pay the fine I would be taken to court by Video Ezy’s bounty collectors!
I went into the store, and spoke to the owner of the shop. He did something entirely unexpected– he said he would wipe the slate clean. It was a great relief.
God is in the business of ‘wiping the slate clean’. God knows that the debt we owe him– all our wrongdoing, our failures to live a life of love, all of our sin is profound and unpayable. But God is willing to wipe the slate clean, to forgive and forget.
Jesus who regularly proclaimed God’s judgment, also befriended those under judgement. It’s a paradox. Throughout history people have tried to resolve this tension by focusing on one or other parts of Jesus’ teaching. Some think only of his inclusiveness; others prefer his warnings. However we must try to hold both threads together.
The first Christians had no problem holding these thoughts together. They saw the paradox resolved in the cross of Christ.
On the cross, Jesus bore the judgement sinners deserve. God wiped the slate clean, and paid the price for our sin. It is finished. And what a relief this is!
I pray you will ask God to wipe your slate clean. All you have to do is ask.