MAY 19, Psalm 103:12

Alex sighed as he sat on the beach and watched the waves, thinking of his friend, Jared, who had teased him about going to church and Sunday school and had asked some difficult questions. “What makes you so sure you’ll go to heaven?” Jared had wanted to know. “My grandma sings a song about having sins rolled away. Do you sing that one, too?” Jared laughed. “If sins are rolled away, they might roll right back again,” he added. Alex hadn’t been quite sure how to answer.

Alex turned and saw his grandfather. “As I look out,” said Grandpa, “I’m reminded of how God has pardoned all my sins and gotten rid of them. He says He cast them into the depths of the sea.”

“Oh, yeah. I remember learning a verse about that,” Alex replied. “If they’re buried in the sea like that, they can’t ever come back, can they?” “Better than that,” Grandpa replied. “God gives an example that helps us understand they’re gone for good. Can you see where the sea ends?”

Alex cupped his hands over his eyes and looked into the distance. He shook his head. “No. I see where it looks like it ends,” he said, “but I know it goes on a lot farther than that. If we were out on the fishing boat in the ocean, we could see only sky and water in every direction.”

Grandpa nodded. “It seemed a long, long way from one edge of the sky to the other, didn’t it? But that’s nothing compared to the distance God has removed our sins from us,” said Grandpa. “The Bible says the sins of those who trust in Jesus are removed as far as the east is from the west.”

“In a lesson on distances, the textbook said the east and west never meet,” said Alex thoughtfully. “So I guess that would mean our sins can’t come back.”

“They sure can’t,” Grandpa answered firmly. “If we try to remove them ourselves, it doesn’t work—we’ll still have them. But the Bible says God has removed them. You can be sure He’s done a good job. You won’t see those sins again!”

Thought: Once saved, always saved!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the reminder that once saved, I’m always saved. It’s true that I still sin sometimes and should repent of any sin and confess it. But thank you for the assurance that if I’ve accepted Jesus as Savior, I can depend on Him to have done what He said He would do—that is, to remove your sins far, far from you and cast them into the depths of the sea and give to me eternal life! In His name I pray, amen.