For His Own Sake!

The other day I was flicking through Isaiah, trying to find the part that talks about what the Messiah will be called. Turns out it's in chapter 9 (and interestingly, names for Father, Son and Spirit are used... but there's one extra... just a thought) but I was way out looking through the back. I got distracted by this verse:

“I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake
and will never think of them again.”
Is 43:25

Now this is the New Living translation, which is a paraphrase, so I thought I should check in a more literal version, because it couldn't really mean that, could it? So I got out my trust NASB and fortunately that page hasn't fallen out of it yet:

"I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake,
And I will not remember your sins. "

And it's the same! God wipes out our sins for His own sake, not ours! It's not a begrudging, 'oh yes, but just this one more time, ok?' He wipes out our sins not because we beg Him but because He wants to.

That gives us value. We are no longer the hangers-on that got in by the skin of our teeth, but we are of such value to God that He chooses blot out our sins because He wants to, because He values us. He loves us so much.

The Lord says, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help.
I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’
to a nation that did not call on my name.
Is 65:1

He's so there for us. Read the rest of Isaiah 43. He absolutely loves us and wants us to spend time with Him and know Him. That's my challenge this week- just to know Jesus, to spend time with the God who is everywhere (Thy omnipresence turns every spot of earth into holy ground - Tozer).

God is good