02/04/2019
Are you so embarrassed and disappointed in your sins that you shy away from God when He calls for you? Do you think that what you have done is so abhorrent to the Lord that just the sight of you will cause Him to shudder and withdraw? Well our God doesn’t see you as a sinner, but as forgiven, washed clean and made worthy by the blood of Christ. Because of Jesus God sees you as who you are, and what you are becoming, and not as who you once were. His love is made complete in you once again by His grace.
“And the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins."”
Hosea 3:1 ESV
Does the Lord desire you to make your bed with an adulteress? No, but He loves us enough to forgive the most egregious sin... not loving Him with all our heart, soul, and mind. If he can do that then how is it that He wouldn’t forgive your sins if you turned to Him in contrition?
“And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."”
Luke 10:27-28 ESV
God’s jealousy is legendary, and yet He can set it aside if you allow Jesus to cleanse you of your transgressions, and if you return to Him faithful and pure. He once said that His punishment for such a sin of unfaithfulness would be visited on the children of the transgressor for three or four generations, but with the coming of Jesus He has provided a way for us to return to Him in love, and to be loved by Him once more.
“You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Exodus 20:5-6 ESV
Adulterating ourselves with another god, or by denying God, is like cheating on your spouse. Extramarital affairs are the number one cause of divorce, and isn’t worshiping another god the same? Yet even so, divorce which was made to be a provision for us is not God’s desire... even when infidelity has occurred God wishes there to be forgiveness and reconciliation. So if He wishes that for us, we who are His reflection, then He also must wish to reconcile Himself to us who have sinned and turned away from Him.
“He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.”
Matthew 19:8 ESV
So even though a provision was made for us to divorce, His desire is for us to forgive... to forgive others, and to forgive ourselves. Are you able to forgive in this way? We understand forgiving others, but what is meant by the term forgiving ourselves... it means accepting God’s forgiveness of us as being complete, and allowing it to release us from our guilt. So when He forgives, do you forgive yourself, and is your guilt released?
Adam and Eve hid from God in the Garden of Eden after they had eaten from the tree. Scripture says they hid because they were naked and afraid...
“But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."”
Genesis 3:9-10 ESV
They were afraid because they were guilty, and they were ashamed because that sin had become their nakedness. Nothing had changed about their bodies... it was solely the guilt of their sin which had been revealed to them. Today provision has been made in Jesus to remove the age old guilt of that sin, and there is no sin you have committed since that He is unwilling to forgive. The question becomes this: “ do you trust in God’s forgiveness enough to let go of the guilt you are feeling?”
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:9 ESV
Trust in God to forgive you, and let go of your fear and nakedness. Cast off your shame and guilt because God has chosen not to see it... not to see your sins any longer.
“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."”
Hebrews 8:12 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for making provision through your Son Jesus for our forgiveness, and I thank you for separating us so completely from our sins. I thank you for relieving our guilt and shame by your Word, and by trusting in you so completely. We watch as you forgive us Holy Father, and we in turn forgive ourselves by releasing the guilt we feel in those sins. Help us Father to resist Satan as he attempts to trap us by promoting our guilt and shame, and by so doing, denying us the fullness of your forgiveness. Strengthen our understanding of the words of Jesus as He taught us to pray “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”, and show us how to set aside those sins and remember them no more. Holy, Holy, Holy, Are you our God who forgives and chooses to forget our sins. Great are you whose grace now flows through Jesus, and by whom our forgiveness is complete. Glory be to you now and forevermore because in your reflection we find release from our guilt and shame, and relationship with you once more.
Rich Forbes