Welcome back to another inspirational moment from historical Christian romance novels.

Romans 3:22-24: This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

This week’s inspirational moment comes from Jodi Bayse’s novel, Redeeming the Outlaw. I want to start by jumping right into the excerpt from her novel, then we will dig into today’s inspirational moment. Check out this scene between Matthias, our outlaw, and his friend Jo from Redeeming the Prodigal.

“Mrs. Harris said she needed to forgive me, so her sins would be forgiven. I don’t s’pose someone like her could have anything as bad as I have that needs forgiving.”

“It’s not about worse or better. Or being more deserving. Christ died to pay the penalty for Mrs. Harris and for you, alike. The kicker is, He also did the same for men like Kane Blake and Darby McBride. None of us are better than the other—not in God’s eyes. If he’s willing to forgive us for what we’ve done, we oughta forgive those who’ve hurt us as well.”

(Jodi Bayse, Redeeming the Outlaw, page 319)

We tend to get stuck or trapped by two thoughts on sin. The first one being that one sin is worse than the other. The truth is, sin is sin, and all sin hurts God and grieves His heart. Whether we are a gossiper or a murderer, our sin breaks God’s heart.

If we fall into this line of thinking that our sin is small and not nearly as bad as the next person, we put ourselves in a terrible place where the Devil can sneak in and gain a foothold. This thinking can lead to looking down on others and judging them. Remember Matthew 7:1-5 – “Do not judge, or you to will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

These verses lead to the second downfall to this way of thinking. When we see our sin as less than someone else’s, we don’t confront it head on and repent. This is because in our minds we justify our “small sin” as being okay because it is not nearly as bad as so and so’s sin. Here the Devil has yet another opening to gain a foothold. We turn a blind eye to our “small sin”, and it festers and keeps us from God’s blessings.

The second line of thinking we fall into, is that our sin is too great for God to forgive. This is a lie from the pit of hell. It is an insult to Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross and the power of His resurrection. On top of that it is an insult the keeps us trapped in the clutches of enemy number one, Satan. When you come to Jesus with true repentance and confession there is nothing, He cannot forgive you of and redeem you from.

If you are trapped in this lie, then tell the Devil to take a hike, because you are a child of God. And let me just remind you that Jesus has already gone down to hell and kicked Satan’s butt. He holds all power and authority, and you belong to Him!

I am not sure where you are today in your walk with Christ, but I pray you are clinging to Jesus and the hope and victory you have in Him. I will leave you with this final thought: We all fall short of the glory of God and that’s where Jesus meets us.