Today's "thought" has to do with the gift the Bible calls forgiveness. It comes from Dr. Grant Ethridge, and is found in the book, "The Gift of Jesus." I found it to be a good reminder and trust you will as well. Enjoy.
Faithful to Forgive
"If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
I
John 1:9
"Do
you remember "if-then" statements from school? Let's
review. The first part of the statement is conditional -- it may or may
not happen. But if that condition does happen, then whatever is described in
the second half of the statement will also happen. These
"if-then" statements, like mathematical formulas, are black and
white. There is no gray. Two plus two does not equal fourish. It
equals four. Three minus one does not equal somewhere close to two or
something other than two. It equals two.
Look
again at today's passage -- it's a most profound if-then statement:
"If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Notice that the verse
does not say "God might be faithful," or "there's a possibility
that He may be faithful." It says God IS faithful and He WILL
forgive. There is no gray area. Also, he doesn't qualify whether the sins are
big or little -- which, after all, is a human construction. The promise
simply says "sins," meaning all sins. If we confess, God
is faithful and just to forgive all sins. Whether or not we feel forgiven,
or whether or not we've forgiven ourselves, is not the issue. If we truly
confess our sins as sins before the Lord, He forgives them. We are not to
cover our sins but confess them.
What
guilt or regret are you dwelling on or reliving today?
Remember: If you have confessed it, then God
has forgiven it. "There is therefore now no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)."
When
I was a child my grandfather (a farmer in his 80's) used to gauge the next
day's weather in two ways. 1.) He would look at the sky and take note of
the cloud formations, and 2.) he would seek to discern which direction the
slightest of winds were blowing in from by licking his finger and sticking it
in the air. The saliva intensified his ability to feel the wind's
direction and thus predict the next day's weather. And I must say he usually
got right! He was usually more accurate than the weatherman we
watched on the news channel.
Yet,
what may work in terms of predicting the weather is a poor method for
discerning forgiveness. Too many people I know (and I must confess this
was true myself in the past) try to discern whether or not we've been forgiven
by looking into our soul and testing how we feel. If we feel forgiven
we assume we must be, and if we don't feel we're forgiven, we
assume we must not be. Or as usually happens, one day they will feel they
are, and another day they will feel they aren't -- due to using a faulty system
of measure. In fact, if we measure forgiveness by how we feel on any
given day, we condemn ourselves to a roller-coaster-ride of seemingly
guilt-free days (when our minds are preoccupied with the day's activities) and
guilt-ridden nights (when the busyness subsides and we are left with nothing to
distract our thoughts or painful memories).
The
Gospel (thankfully) gives us a better remedy for our sin and guilt than how we
might happen to feel on any given day. For it bases our forgiveness, and the
assurance of it, in the punishment Jesus received in our place on the cross,
and the promise of God's forgiveness because of it. A punishment He paid
not just the small sins, as Dr. Ethridge points out, or the sins that no one
found out about and really did not harm to others. But every sin -- even the
ones that did hurt someone else immensely and have left lasting scars on people
and relationships. When Christ went to the cross He died an unimaginably
painful death. And I would say He did that (at least in part) not simply
because that's the punishment sin deserves, but to convince us beyond any
shadow of a doubt that He had paid the sin-debt of even the most unimaginably
heinous sins.
Therefore
we don't have to wonder. Nor do we have to hope, wish, or guess.
Nor does it have to do with how we may happen to feel at any given time (since
feelings are fickle). It has to do with what Christ did on the cross and
the promise of God -- something which really is black and white. "IF I
confess our sins, THEN God -- who IS faithful
and just -- WILL forgive our sins and cleanse us of all
unrighteousness."
I
know the postmodern mind has an aversion to anything being 'black and
white" rather than some shade of gray. But this is one case
(along with others) where healing is thwarted until we see the issue of
forgiveness really is black and white. God purposely made it that way so
that the fullness of His redemptive gift in Christ might be internalized in
hearts and minds that can be so easily misled by fickle feelings. Feelings
are NOT the ultimate gauge of what is true.
Living
in the joy of Christ's finished work and God's precious promise, Pastor
Jeff
