Love out of appreciation for Jesus’ sacrifice

Hebrews 10:2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? Apparently, the Hebrews to whom the author was writing knew exactly what he meant by this question. They would know by experience, from having offered repeated sacrifices at the temple, that they were still conscious of their sin. The sacrifices had not cleansed their consciences of sin. They had been sufficient to make the worshipper ceremonially clean so they could pray, but the sin still weighed heavy on their hearts. Had the exercise of ceremonial worship actually cleansed them of sins, they would not have needed to keep up the practice.  This reminds us once again that we should never think that there’s something we can do to cleanse ourselves of sins. The encouragement I have for us today is this: Our hope and boast before God is Jesus Christ crucified because of God’s great love and mercy. We must be careful not to think well of ourselves because we intentionally live to love with Jesus, or for that matter, any good deed or exercise of religious worship. Our confidence before God isn’t in ourselves. It’s not that we are in ministry, give generously, pray for people, or help others. We can do those things repeatedly, like the Jews offered sacrifices in the temple on a regular basis, but they have no power to remove sins. We still sin, and we know it.  Today’s live to love encouragement is that we live to love out of love and appreciation for Christ, His sacrifice, His blood, which cleanses us and frees us to serve the living God with clear consciences.