My bank card was once declined when paying for my weekly shopping. It was unexpected and wasn’t pleasant, especially when it happened just after payday.

In a nanosecond I was dealing with layers of emotion – “How come the card isn’t working? Where has the money gone that was there yesterday? Must I return a trolley full of shopping? Has my wife bought me a really big, expensive present?” (OK, maybe scratch that last one!)

My bank’s IT glitch meant that no transactions were being accepted, just when I needed it. It was a sinking, panicky feeling, knowing that I could not settle my account or pay the outstanding bill.

Before Bible college I was a Housing Officer with a local council. I dealt, in part, with people in rent arrears who, for a variety of reasons, had not paid their rent and had accrued a sizeable outstanding balance. Sadly, very often the debt had become so large they did not have the resources to pay it back.

The New Testament tells that Jesus hung on a cross, bruised, beaten, crucified, shedding his blood for the forgiveness of our sin. As he breathed his last, he called out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30).

This was not like an actor saying ‘The End’ at the conclusion of a play or the last line of a movie or novel. Jesus’ declaration was not defeatist, rather it was familiar to the crowd, but coming from a business setting, not a forum of death. The Greek word Jesus used was a word heard in the clamour of a bustling marketplace, spoken when a deal had been struck and cash had changed hands. “It is finished” meant debt cancelled, balance cleared, deal concluded, the bill paid in full.

This is what Jesus shouted over our sin debt. Truth is, we didn’t have the resources before a holy God to pay, yet Jesus paid our sin bill in his blood. He cleared a debt that we could not pay through his pure, spotless sacrifice.

You may be struggling today with the weight and pressure accrued as the outstanding consequences of wrong actions, words, and thoughts, either in your past or your present. But realising that you are spiritually bankrupt before a holy God may just be your richest day ever… because that is exactly where his mercy finds us. His grace gives us strength.

Romans 6:23 tells us that, “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proves that the price for sin has been paid in full.

Today you can shout “It is finished!” over your life (Jesus already has!), and live with the joy of his free gift this Easter.

Gordon Allan is a member of the MPower team and senior leader at Edinburgh Elim Church.

This article first appeared in Direction, Elim’s monthly magazine.

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