Forgiveness

But when God our Saviour revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

Titus 3.4-7

 

A story

 

You and your spouse are distant. Hectic schedules keep you from seeing each other. You’re both doing great things for your family, friends, and community. You’re up to your eyeballs in church activities. Yet you feel alone and unfulfilled.

A new manager at work publicly commends you. As you’re sitting at your desk, feeling good about yourself, he invites you to lunch to review work ideas. You go, then go again, and again. Flirtatious smiles and affectionate conversations melt away professionalism.  Now you have feelings, deep feelings  that evolve into lustful actions.

You cross a line.

You know it’s wrong, and you want to stop. Fearfully you cry out, “How can God forgive me?” You love God, and you love your spouse. Fear of unforgiveness drowns hope. You desperately want to reach out to God but feel tainted and filthy, covered in the pungent stench of sin.

 

A letter from God

 

My Forgiven Child,

When you are shivering, soaked with the world’s polluted waters of sin, I long to warmly embrace you. Let me renew, love, and comfort you while I gently wash away the contamination of fear, shame, and guilt, and make you clean.  Let my purifying love wash over you. I am an eternal waterfall that never runs dry, always falling for you, loving you, showering you with my mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

Just as the woman found in the act of adultery was thrown at Jesus’s feet to be stoned, was forgiven of many sins, I forgive you! Jesus forgave her sins, and she showed him extravagant love when, kneeling at his dusty feet, she wept and cleansed her tears with her hair. She repeatedly kissed his feet, gratefully weeping, while anointing them with rare perfume.

My child, you’ve been made holy and forgiven for all time through the finished work of Jesus. Stand under me with arms wide open while I saturate your being with who I am. My love for you is fresh and new every moment. Live in the never ending, purifying waterfall of my love and forgiveness today!

 

A Scripture

 

Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Hebrews 9.14

 

A Prayer

 

God, multiple times a day, every day, I miss your mark of performing perfectly. I try to live up to your standards, but without the eternal flow of your forgiveness, I can’t be forgiven nor can I live forgiven because I can’t pay the wages of sin. I praise Jesus for paying my debt and being the perfect sacrifice for my sin, continually purifying me forever.

In Jesus’s name, Amen

 

Reflection

 

1 How can you live in the waterfall of God’s forgiveness and love every day?¹

 

And in accordance with this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10.10

2 How does the above Scripture statement make you feel about yourself and your relationship with your forgiving Father?

 

There’s a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.

Romans 5.15

3 Does knowing you’re forgiven for all time provoke you to want to sin, or does it inspire you to want to live a holy life? Do you feel thankful for the grace to live an imperfect life before a forgiving and merciful God?

 

 

¹When you sin, and you will, because no one’s performance is perfect except Jesus’s, turn from that sin, verbally renounce it, and ask God for his forgiveness. Then picture yourself standing under God’s waterfall of forgiveness and praise him for rescuing you from sin and death.

When you know in your heart that you are covered by grace and are in permanent right standing with God, guilt and shame will leave.

 

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNmytSNBoyHkfz2KfUnP5Tg4X_B26YSTh&feature=share