The Best of the Portals of Prayer

Read: 1st John 2:1-14

“Comfort My people, says your God … cry to her … that her iniquity is pardoned.”
Isaiah 40:1-2

Words of Comfort

We can always use some comfort. God looks down on our poor, derelict world and sees man’s cruelty to man, broken homes with which the sea of modern life is littered: crime, anger, contempt, and disdain. A note of comfort in the midst of all the anguish? Yes, we could use some.
There is one comfort we need more than any other, more than just the soothing sorrows and the calming of our cares. We need the comfort of sins forgiven. There is no comfort until the conscience is at peace. “Comfort My people … cry to her … Her iniquity is pardoned.” Not just “speak tenderly”. Proclaim, give it everything you’ve got. The world won’t believe it at first, or maybe, ever. It sounds too good to be true. You have to make the news urgent. Proclaim that sin has been paid for!
On those battlefields where men and women struggle, you and I sometimes will meet defeat. If things have happened in your life that ought never to have been, if the walls of sinful habit and indulgence have closed in around you, listen to your Father in heaven say, “the past is over and gone. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for you, you can start all over again.”

Lord, how precious is your assurance that I am forgiven through Jesus’ merit. Amen.

August 16, 1999