Having looked at God's holiness and our sinfulness (read the last blog post if you haven't read that one yet) we realized how wretched and terrible our sin must look before a Holy God. The absolutely amazing thing about it is that despite how wretched and terrible our sin is before Holy God, God desires to forgive us! Scripture makes clear that the penalty, the punishment for our sin, is death. Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death." That penalty had to be paid. It had to be dealt with if we were to be forgiven. It was, in God coming in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, living a perfect live, and than taking the punishment that we deserved, dying on the cross in our place. That was what was necessary for the forgiveness of our sins, and that is exactly what God did! The one who was perfect, the one who created everything and the one whom everything was created for, took your place, took the punishment you deserved, so that you could be forgiven. THAT'S INCREDIBLE! If you have heard this a billion times, I hope it still amazes you that God took the punishment you deserved so that you could be forgiven! He did it to show off His incredible love! He did not forgive you because you deserve it, or you earned it, or because you can pay Him back some day. You can't, you didn't deserve it, and you can't earn it. God forgave you, because He loves you! THAT IS INCREDIBLE!!!
It is out of God's incredible forgiveness that we ought to forgive others. It should seem ludicrous to us that we can accept and receive God's forgiveness, but be unwilling to forgive someone else. If we truly grasp our sinfulness, and God's holiness, we will understand how much we have been forgiven. When we understand how much we have been forgiven, we quickly realize that we will never even come close to having to forgive others as much as we have been forgiven.
You have likely experienced some deep scars, wounds, and pain at the hands of others. I don't know what your story is, and if you shared it with me my heart would break with yours. I want to say this with as much sympathy, love, and compassion as I possible can, no matter what you have experienced, the offenses committed against you do not come close to the offenses you have committed against God, and GOD forgave you! If Holy God, the one who created you and sustains you, can forgive you ALL of your numerous sins and offenses that you have committed against Him, you and I need to forgive others! Grasping God's incredible forgiveness for us, frees us to offer that same forgiveness to anyone, and everyone! Failure and refusal to forgive others means that we have not understood the Gospel message. It means that we have not grasped how Amazing God's grace, love, and forgiveness is! When we get it, we give it! God forgave us, so we forgive others!
No comments:
Post a Comment