Wednesday Walk — The Best Defense Attorney Money Can’t Buy

#Retrospective — This post originally published August 14, 2019.

I have heard a lot about this man, how he is the best defense attorney around. With him as an advocate, all his clients who were accused went free. It never meant much to me until I realized I was in trouble.

I hesitated to reach out to him. Could I really believe what I heard was true or was it rumor? With the crimes I had committed, I knew I was condemned to die. Whoever I chose to defend me, I would have to believe in them and their ability to advocate for my life before the judge.

An acquaintance kept telling me not to believe it. “You are a criminal and you’ll always be a criminal,” he kept telling me. He acts like a devil, spewing discouraging words at me all the time. “You’re too far gone to save,” that devil insists. He keeps telling me I am no good. But something deep inside tells me otherwise; that my life could be spared despite what I did. Could this advocate actually save my life, even win me freedom?

It is true that I am a sinner. That I am doomed to eternal death. That I can believe about myself. But to believe in this Jesus; that as the Son of God he can free me from my sin — save me from condemnation before God — well, that is another question. I contemplate if what John said is really true. Did this defense attorney really pay the price for me, to free me from condemnation?

“Read it again,” I tell my friend. He picks up the scroll and reads: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the world.”

#WednesdayWalk Through the Bible — an exploration of what unknown people might have seen or felt when they witnessed the events in the Bible. This post is from the perspective of someone who heard John’s words in 1 John 2:1 (NIV) read to him for the first time.