“All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.” Isaiah 53:6 (NLT)
The world is full of heart disease today—but not just the physical kind. There are many spiritual diseases of the heart, like guilt, addiction, loneliness, and worry.
When Jesus died on the cross, he solved all your biggest problems, including every kind of spiritual heart disease. One way he did that is by being your replacement.
“Replacement” simply means that Jesus took your place and received the punishment you deserved for your sin. There was no other way for an imperfect person (you) to be in a perfect place (heaven) with a perfect God who hates and judges sin. On the cross, Jesus was your replacement—your substitute.
Romans 3:25 says, “God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God’s anger against us” (TLB).
Nobody’s perfect. We all know that! None of us have measured up to our own standards, much less God’s. When you break a human law, you have to pay a human penalty. If you speed down the freeway and get stopped, you get a ticket for it. If you break into someone’s home, you’ll likely have to serve time in prison.
When you break God’s laws, you pay God’s penalties. And God says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23 NLT).
The Good News is that Jesus has already paid the death penalty for your sins. Everything you’ve ever done wrong and everything you ever will do wrong has already been paid for.
The Bible says this in Isaiah: “It was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down . . . he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6 NLT).
Jesus became our substitute; he was our replacement on the cross. “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NLT).
When you trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord of your life, he heals you of your spiritual heart disease. And that means that God no longer looks on you with condemnation. He only sees you covered with Jesus’ righteousness.
Rick Warren is an innovative pastor, renowned author, and global influencer known for founding Saddleback Church, the Purpose Driven Network, the PEACE Plan, and Hope for Mental Health. He has written several best-selling books, including The Purpose Driven Life, which has sold over 35 million copies in 200 languages. Time magazine named Warren the most influential spiritual leader in America and one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Since stepping down from the lead pastor role at Saddleback in 2022, Warren has continued to inspire people through his Daily Hope Devotional and podcast Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. His first book in a decade, Created to Dream, was released in April 2023.
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
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