Don't go fishing with the devil

by Sarah Allerding

Clip art image by permission from ChristArt.com

            The devil likes fishing. He likes to take us fishing for our past sins. When he catches them, he holds up the fishing line and dangles our sins in our faces. He says, “Look what you did all those years ago. Remember doing that? That was bad, you sinned against God. You don’t deserve forgiveness. You are not good enough. You can’t be forgiven. You are a bad person.” The devil likes to put doubts in our minds. He wants us to despair about our sins. He wants us to think we can’t be forgiven.

            If we were left to ourselves, the devil would be right. We would be in a completely hopeless state -- on the way to hell. That is not where it all ends, although that is what the devil wishes. Jesus took every one of your sins on himself and suffered the punishment for them in your place. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus paid the price in full for our sins. When our Savior died on the cross, our sins were forgiven. When he rose from the dead, our sins remained buried. God no longer looks at our sins. He has put them far away from us. “You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).  Picture God hurling your sins into the sea, never to be seen again. The deepest part of the ocean is over six miles deep. That is very far away. God has given us a great picture to show us that he has forgiven our sins and will no longer hold them against us.  Instead of drowning in our guilt, our guilt has been drowned.   Because of what Jesus did for us, he doesn’t see sin when he looks at us. He sees our Lord's perfect righteousness.

            Next time the devil wants you to go fishing for your forgiven sins, tell him no. Tell him that your Savior died to pay for those sins. Tell him that Jesus rose victorious over sin -- your sin. Your sins have been forgiven. For this reason, the devil has no right to torment you with them anymore. You are at peace with God.

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Dear Jesus, thank you for dying to take my sins away. Thank you for rising victorious over sin, death, and the devil. Next time the devil wants to take me fishing for my past sins, please remind me that they have been forgiven.  They are farther away from me than the deepest part of the sea.  I no longer need to let them bother me because you have forgotten them. In your name I pray.  Amen.