All tagged forgiveness
Does God expect us to score 100% when it comes to following His commandments? Maybe He would accept 95% as passing or even grade on a curve as He compares us to others? This is the thought we will contemplate today. Let's begin in the book of James for help with this.
Prayer should bring us to repentance, and then transform our character. God revels in the repentance of sinners, but repentance involves much more than the empty words "I'm sorry", it requires a change of heart... A turning away from what offended. In fact, that is the literal meaning of the word; turning away.
This morning we will begin by studying one of the most incredible examples of intercessory prayer. Moses goes to the mountain to receive the first set of tablets but while he is gone the Israelites ask Aaron to build them a golden calf to worship... which he does. Moses isn't aware of this when God tells him He will destroy the Israelites and build a nation from his offspring (much like the promise to Abraham). But, Moses prays that God will spare them.
In my devotional reading his morning Pastor E.M. Bounds wrote on the subject of forgiveness. The title of his devotional message was "The Abundant Pardon" and it spoke of how important it is to forgive. This made me contemplate the subject as well, and to fathom the depth of this seemingly simple act that can repeatedly trip us up as we travel the way of faith. Let’s look at it further and see how forgiveness can either bless us, or its lack can destroy our relationship with God…
This morning our devotional contains many questions regarding prayer, Jesus and, his position as our Great High Priest. Yet for each question the answer is always the same “Yea”. Let’s listen as Pastor E.M. Bounds asks us a few of these questions, and then answers them, and let’s listen to Andrew Peterson’s modern day song in which he asks some amazing questions and then responds to them in song… “Is He Worthy”. These are questions regarding who, why, and what was given for us atop Calvary on this Good Friday, and there are so many more.
Are we like children before God, or are we walking in our own independent self-righteousness? Do we say “I believe” and yet act like we are in control of our lives? Maybe we trusted God at one time, but have since taken those reins back from Him, and slowly, over time, found ourselves walking apart from Him. Do we know where we are spiritually? Are we uncertain how, and if, we can ever go home again? Well we can.
Are we worthy of forgiveness? Are we worthy of the sacrifice that God made by giving His only Son to die for our sins? Are we worthy of an audience with the creator of the universe? Are we worthy of forgiveness? There are so many questions like this that most of us would answer with a resounding “NO!”, but is that really true?
Have certain things of the world died to you? Are you a different person today than you were the day before you first believed? Do you ask the Lord to forgive you for your sins and then take a deep breath of relief when they are lifted from you, or do you ask, but then refuse to allow His total forgiveness to occur in you? Let’s look at this ploy of Satan... our continued spiritual regret and conviction after being forgiven.
Do we attempt to hide who we are from God by covering ourselves in some fashion? Do we pretend to be spiritually in control when in fact we are anything but? Are our sins hidden within us where we feel they are safe from God’s eyes? Who are we fooling, but ourselves? Let’s lay our iniquities before us and seek God’s help in dealing with them, because He has known them all along... even when we hid them in the recesses of our heart.
We don’t enter into heaven to live an eternal life because we deserve it. That kind of thinking is based upon our own vanity and arrogance. Our salvation and everlasting life is sealed by covenant, and that covenant comes by God’s acceptance of the death of Jesus Christ as our blood sacrifice. Only through Him can we be redeemed, perfected, and sanctified. Only through Him can we claim the covenant of grace.
Do you feel grief today before God? Is your heart breaking within you for some sin that convicts you unrelentingly? I am not speaking about a superficial knowledge of having done something wrong, but rather the deep understanding of a sin that emanates from your very soul. Are you seeking repentance for wrongdoing that has brought you to godly grief?
Are you in a covenant relationship with God? Have you accepted the blood of Jesus Christ as the offering that sealed your covenant with the Lord? Has God’s forgiveness of the world’s sin through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus become your covenant? Many of us see the cross and say “this is the covenant”, but it is only a sign. We see the rending of the temple curtain and say “this is the covenant”, but it is also a sign. Then we see the empty tomb and say “this is the covenant”, but it too is only a sign. The covenant is forgiveness, and the blood of Jesus is the offering that seals it. Is His blood upon you? Are you forgiven?
Do you see God the Father as a gentle old grey haired man who forgives you regardless of what you do and without regard or memory of what, or who, you are? Well that isn’t so. Without the horrific and yet wonderful sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ we would be lost, because God’s very nature would prohibit His overlooking our sins. Our forgiveness is a supernatural event without precedent, which cleanses us of the once permanent stain of sin.
What sins do we have in our lives that have enslaved us? Do we have an overriding desire for something that drives us to turn it from righteousness to seek sinful fulfillment, or a need in our lives that makes us complicit or vulnerable to these sinful things? Either way, we have been enslaved, and our sin will rule us until we can find emancipation from it. Sexual predators are in the news almost every day... let’s take a look.
How often do we sin, then confess and ask for forgiveness only to find purity before falling back once again into that selfsame sin? How many battles must we fight with an adversary before they are at last declared defeated? Do we ask God to heal the wounds of sin, but neglect to ask that He fight them for us?