On Saturday evening I attended the Passion show and I witnessed 30 000 people getting down on their knees (me included) to pray to God for the nation, for the world and for ourselves.

Louie Giglio was the speaker and his words had a major impact on me and all those that I have spoken too who attended the show.  He said that Jesus put an end to all sin, all shame, all guilt with just one word.  It was the last word that He spoke before dying on the cross

tetelestai

which translated means “it is finished” in Greek.

As human beings we define ourselves with one word
failure
alcoholic
divorced
addict
worrier
etc, etc, etc

Jesus, in His last breath cancelled out all these definitions by declaring tetelestai – it is finished.

Sin is finished and no longer has a hold on us.  We may still need the ice pack for the bruises that sin has left in our lives but the hold of sin has been broken. Louis used the analogy of the honey bee sting to sin.

“When a honey bee stings a person, it cannot pull the barbed stinger back out. It leaves behind not only the stinger, but also part of its abdomen and digestive tract, plus muscles and nerves. This massive abdominal rupture kills the honey bee.”

It is the same with sin – sin does not have a hold over us.  We may sin and suffer the consequences but Jesus conquered the power that sin has in our lives with that one word tetelestai.  “The Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil“.  By His death on the cross and His resurrection he rendered Satan powerless – tetelestai, Satan’s power in a Believer’s life is null and void. We now fall under a covenant of Grace!

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8)

My two favourite biblical definitions of grace are “the attitude of God toward men” and “the liberty that God gives men.”

Liberty is the “state of being free.” God’s grace causes us to be free from the chains that had us bound—alcoholism, addiction to pornography or drugs, worry, jealousy, anger, self-pity, pride, eating disorders, poor self-image. The list is endless. Graciousness is defined as being “courteous, kind, and pleasant.” In Isaiah 30:18 we are advised that “the Lord longs to be gracious to you.” What an amazing thought: God longs to be kind, generous, and courteous to us.  (from God’s Promise for Families)

If you are struggling with guilt or shame or worry or fear or an addiction or unforgiveness or hurts – repeat to yourself tetelestai, tetetestai – it is finished.  The guilt is gone, the shame is gone, you are no longer under condemnation.  Pray that God will give you the courage to seek help for an addiction so that one day you will be able to say about that addiction tetelestai, it is finished – I am free.