Skip to main content

 

FORGIVENESS

1 John 2:2 “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”
On a Roman cross over 200 years ago, Jesus Christ bore the sin of the whole human race, once for all time. Sin was nailed to the cross in Jesus’ body. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
That means that He bore all my sin, all my innumerable sins, all my brokenness, all my rebellion, all my indifference, every evil and putrid thought or act, all my idolatry, all my unfaithfulness, everything that could be defined by Him as sin. Not only that, He bore my sorrows, all my weakness, all my grief, all my unbelief, all my failures, He bore all the evil and abuse that would ever done to me, all malignant acts against me that try to destroy me, all slander, all lies spoken against me, all the pain due to betrayal and abandonment, all my sadness over every loss, all fear from the past, in the present or of the future, all anger and wrongdoing heaped on me.
More than I will ever know - Jesus bore on the cross and paid for in full – my sin, not in part but the whole, was nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.
Given that eternal truth, how can I not forgive in others what Jesus has already forgiven (“Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”) EVEN if those who have sinned against me refuse to receive that forgiveness offered to them by Jesus Christ. Will my choosing to forgive be motivated by the heart of the Lord Jesus or the experience and memory of the pain another caused me? Will I forgive as I have been forgiven knowing Jesus has paid it all?
Yes, I will by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ Name. I will forgive as Stephen forgave even as the stones being thrown were killing him. I will speak forgiveness and blessing that even my adversaries might be turned from Sauls into Pauls.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  PRAYER Jesus Christ NEVER taught on what we call "unanswered prayer." James wrote that a divided loyalty between trusting the Lord God for life and at the same time relying on the world's systems to get what you want will result in you not getting anything from God you may have prayed about. God will never reinforce the unbelief that flows from divided loyalty. THAT is not unanswered prayer. That is God saying, "No." to your request. God saying, "No." to your requests is not unanswered prayer. It is His grace. His "No" is just what I would want if I knew what He knows. The Lord also answers with, "Not now; not yet." because we are not yet prepared to receive what we think we need. God works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. If I am praying for something God wants to do in me and the Holy Spirit is working in me preparing me to receive what God has in store, His "Not yet." is NOT unanswered prayer. As we see...
Post a Comment
Read more
 HEBREWS 10:1-2, 10-18 "The sacrifices under that system ( the Old Covenant) were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.   If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.   For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.  Under the Old Covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.   But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.   There He waits until His enemies are humbled and made a footstool under His feet.   For by that one offering He forever m...
Post a Comment
Read more
 James 1:5-8 " If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.   But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.   Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.   Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do." We must remember that God is never upset that we don't know or understand how to live out the New Life He has given to us. That Life is now being lived out in us by the Holy Spirit. This Life of the Kingdom is radically different that the life we are accustomed to living in concert with the world. One of the main marks of a true follower of Jesus Christ is that there is change and ongoing change in us by the Holy Spirit. We do not remain as we once were. The Holy Spirit is conforming us to the Image o...
Post a Comment
Read more