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FORGIVING...OTHERS AND SELF


We struggle with our own dealings in "forgiveness" of others, where we may "forgive", but (as the Scottish saying goes) we don't forget the bastard's name. We then, when convicted by the Holy Spirit (convicted, not condemned) we become disappointed in ourselves and think a period of self-flagellation is an appropriate thing. That is because we don't really have a robust grasp of sin and our own ability to commit every horror and to walk or wallow in the same.


We actually think too highly of ourselves. We forget that we were dead in our sin. We forget that people are NOT "mostly good." It is God alone Who is the cause of anyone to be reborn into eternal life. We forget that "Salvation is of the Lord." It is begun and brought to completion by His becoming the Life that is working in us!


God's forgiveness transcends our thinking and our reasoning ability for He sees our sin as only Holy God can see it in all its twisted evil. And, He has thoroughly dealt with it in the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That's why it is GOOD NEWS. It's not about our performance...EVER...but is entirely grounded in the eternal reality of what He has done for us


Jesus' Resurrection proves that (as the old hymn by Horation Spafford goes) "My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!"


What God has done for us In Christ Jesus is really beyond our kin but made real in life by the Holy Spirit. As someone said, "When God called me out of my death and into His life, He had already factored in my stupidity." It takes a measure of Holy Spirit-produced humility to see the depth of our need and the immeasurable grace and eternal love of God for us in Jesus Christ...a love that we can never be separated from!

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