Forgiveness

God longs for us to be open with Him about our sins. He meets honesty and repentance with loving forgiveness: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Because our God is merciful, new beginnings await! - Our Daily Bread

Everyone who has ever been born, except for Jesus, sins. It's been a part of mankind since Adam and Eve.  It's been the curse of man. 

Paul lamented this in Romans 7:14-25 "For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin."

I am by no means a Biblical Scholar. What I understand has been taught to me or revealed through the Spirit.

There are times I still find myself wondering what something means so I ask God to explain.  Sometimes the answer comes quickly sometimes not. 

In what today's post looks to be about is sin and how the forgiveness of Jesus deals with it.  Read that part in Romans again.  He knows what we are up against with our sin nature.  He gets it!  Not that He ever didn't get it, but Jesus was here, on this Earth. Lived a sinless life. He was tempted in everything as we are, went through life with what we go through yet didn't sin.  He knows pain and heartaches. He knows grief and loneliness. He knows.

We who are Christians do not have a High Priest who cannot understand what we are going through. Jesus is our High Priest, our Mediator.  Since under Heaven there is in nobody else by whom we must be saved, He is the One. 

In all this, God wants a relationship with us that is eternal. Unbroken.  We break that fellowship and the relationship is strained when we knowingly sin.  Then life gets harder.  The stress grows.  Like King David wrote in Psalms, his body wasted away from the weight of it. 

The verse quoted in the beginning of this is everything to the Believer.  To have a restored relationship with God.  To have that weight lifted. To be at His table again.

Sin will be a part of us until either God calls us home or Jesus returns. It's as much a fact of life as getting dirty every day.  Every day we need to wash up.  We all see pictures of skin that's left unclean.  It's the same thing with sin. 

Look at this world, there's temptations a plenty.  Distractions abound.  Why?  Because of sin.  Sin will perpetuate itself.  Evil will rise because of sin. Without sin there is no evil. 

But we who are in Christ are no longer a slave to sin.  We are the only ones in the world who have a choice to not sin. We are the only ones who have an arbitrator, a mediator, who can wash us white as snow.  It's forgiveness. 

Jesus didn't go through all that He did so that we could go out into this world and sin any way we want to.  Paul mentions that too. Shall we who are under grace continue to sin? May it never be. 

A small newsflash for you, the world will not understand you.  They desire your forgiveness but won't understand you living for Jesus.  In the beginning of the book of John it says that those in darkness cannot understand the light.

So before you go much further today. Stop and ask God if there's anything or anyone who either you need to forgive or if there's something you need forgiveness for. 

He is faithful and just to forgive.  No strings attached.  You may not escape the consequences of your sins but you will find the peace you have been missing.

Ever been around bitter people?  Even they can be deceived into thinking that there's no problems.  They have no real joy. No real happiness other than saying or doing selfish or self-centered things to make themselves feel better.   They fool themselves.

Real joy, real peace is only found in a forgiving heart that is walking WITH Jesus not apart from Him.

Don't be afraid. There is no gavel waiting to strike to condemn you.  Scripture says that there is Therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. None.

But what if...
But if God knew...

Sorry...God already knows and what if's will just keep you running in circles.

Just stop, admit what you have done, confess it to Jesus.  Ask Him to forgive you.  Turn away from it. Do it no more.
Don't give it the time of day.

Even if it's a hundred times a day, repeat the process.  Jesus doesn't grow weary.
He loved you enough to go through the Cross. He is eternal.  His love for you can never be removed or erased.

Time to start a new day with Jesus.
Make it a good one.

Oh, if you refuse to forgive, how can you expect God to forgive you?  It's you taking the poison, hoping the other person suffers for it. Let go and let God do what needs done.