Forgiven.

Exodus.

Moses encountered the living God in the burning bush.
Moses warned Pharoh of the coming plagues.
Moses parted the Red Sea and led the Israelites to the Promised Land.
Moses met God on Mount Sinai.
Moses brought the 10 Commandments to his people.
Moses authored the Pentateuch.

God used Moses for greatness, but Moses was a simple man. Moses was a sinner just like me. Perhaps that is what draws me so powerfully to his story.

I'll admit that I'm a "recoving Pharisee". I struggle daily with moralism and legalism and I fall to defeat when I fail to earn the grace that God gives so freely. I should learn that I'll never be good enough, but I am stubborn and slow to learn.

I'm a sinner. It's natural. It's innate. It's as much a part of who I am as anything else about me. I wallow perpetually in mental sin. I don't recognize God in his glory in the way that I should--ever. I know that I'm sinful. The idea that I'm a sinner is nothing new to me.

But, when my sinful nature manifests itself physically I often feel separation from God, as though I've wronged him so greatly that forgiveness simply isn't big enough to cover me.

For me, the story of Moses is a beautiful reminder that God uses sinful people. He works through us to achieve his purposes, to proclaim his glory.

In Exodus 2:12 Moses strikes an Egyptian, killing the man. Murder. Moses committed murder. He took a life, hid the body in the sand, and fled from Egypt. Moses committed a sin that I often view as being "unforgivable" but within a matter of Bible verses, God appears before Moses in the burning bush. Moses's sin held no power to prevent God from using Moses for his purposes.

Sin separates us from God, but he is powerful to overcome that separation. Once he selects us as one of his own, nothing in our sinful nature is big enough to hinder his plans for us.

My sins have been forgiven. All of them. My sins have all been washed away. I can rest in knowing that I am forgiven.