Immunity, exoneration, pardon of blame, justification, overlooking, grace, compassion --- those are a few of the words you'll find when you look up forgiveness in a thesaurus. Forgiveness.. this is something I struggle with; not forgiving others, but being forgiven. And not being forgiven by a person that I've wronged, but being forgiven by Jesus Christ. It's said over and over and then over again that God is a forgiving God. And we know that Jesus Christ took on our punishment -- which by the way wasn't just being killed. Many times we dwell on his death, but we forget that He had to be alive to die. Don't take a single drink for few hours, and run around the block. You'll get thirsty. Did it cross your mind that Jesus probably experienced dehydration while hanging on that cross? I know I didn't think about it. And remember those times you got made fun of at school? Or anywhere. Even if you weren't sure your peers were laughing at you, their smirks and occassional glances in your direction made you feel as if you had gone from being on top of the world to now, somehow, worthless. Did you ever think about Jesus? He actually went from being on top of the world, to being considered worthless. They didn't subtley make fun of him, or crack jokes behind his back. Oh no, this was the biggest mock of the world. To his face they made fun of him, riots of people, not just a little highschool clique. And to that same face they were just tormenting, the spit upon. And put a crown of thorns on. I think it hurts lightly touching a rose thorn, let alone have one dug into my head. But he had many dug into his head. He had nails go through his flesh and bone into wood. A sword speared into his side. They even gambled for his clothing to make matters more disrespectful.. And for what? Us. And now, I let that same Jesus down. I fall short. And all I have to do is ask for forgiveness and He takes me back? I can't grasp that. If I wrong someone, not even in the extreme ways I let Jesus down, the person always has it in the back of their mind. Usually it gets brought up in a later fight, or you can just feel the difference in the relationship. But God.. He isn't a grudge holder. And that's why I wanted to write about it because I feel that Satan uses this human trait of reluctant forgiveness against us when we need to be forgiven by Jesus. In other words, when we fall short, Satan makes us think that God has this same reaction -- untrusting, reluctant to forgive, holding a grudge, forgiving but marking it down in His book, type of "forgiveness". This is just such a lie, and yet, I know I still feel intimidated, and badly to go to God and even ask to be forgiven. I know I can't be the only one, and if by some odd chance I am, then let this just be encouragement to every follower of Christ because it's just so awesome. Let's review a few things.
--- Jesus came to die for us. That was the only reason. He led a life so that He could die, and be the sacrifice for our sins, so we didn't have to die, go to hell, and spend eternity without Jesus.
John 3:17 "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
--- Jesus wasn't hunky dory about dying. It's not like He jumped up onto the cross, and felt no pain. Part of taking on our sins, was literally taking on the wrath of God.
Matthew 26:38 "Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” "
Matthew 26:42 "He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” "
Matthew 26:44 "So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing."
THREE TIMES JESUS ASKED God the Father to make another way. He didn't skip to the cross, but he bore it because God's love for us is so strong.
Matthew 27:46 "About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)."
Jesus didn't just die physically.. He took on our sins. God can't be with sin. Jesus was literally seperated from God. God is 3 in 1 -- The Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit. Jesus seperated himself from.. himself.
So thinking about these things.. It's just ridiculous to think that Jesus would willingly, knowingly endure and go through all that He did just to hold grudges on us later on when He KNOWS that we will fall short. This isn't a surprise. Jesus knows that we have sinful nature. He knows that we can't fight off sin and satan alone in our humaness. A common verse that's said (and true) is Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" but do you know the following verse? Romans 3:24 "and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Justified.. isn't that another word for forgivness? Yes, yes it is. And so is grace. Even though our minds can't grasp it and our attitudes can't do it -- Jesus forgives us in a way like no other! And yes, all that has to be done is asking in sincerity. Jesus bore that cross sooooo long ago for sins I haven't even done yet! But the ransom for them is already paid, all I have to do is ask for it! How crazy!
Some more crazy things...
If you're reading my blog, I hope that by now you realize that "God is love." The Scriptures tell us that in John 4:8 (And God shows us every day). And maybe you've heard the scripture about love -- it's in a lot of weddings, and movies -- like A Walk To Remember -- and it's used as a love between husband and wife -- but it doesn't actually say that in the Scripture. The Scripture is detailing the traits of genuine love -- and as we know GOD IS LOVE -- and love originates from Him -- 1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us." Ok, so really the Scripture about love, which by the way is 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, is giving us more insight to the personality and compassion of Jesus! It's describing God's qualities. And one of those qualities is.. you guess it.. about forgiveness! And it completely blows my mind.
1 Corinthians 13:5
"It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."
IT KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS! All those hymns about Jesus' blood washing us white as snow are for real. They aren't just trying to make it sound all happy and flowery -- it's true! God doesn't keep record of our wrongs -- He isn't sitting there saying.. "Well.. I forgave you last time but..." Nope! The Bible tells us the story of the lost son -- He was nasty to his father, taking his share of the father's estate before the father had even passed away, and left. While he was gone his heart got changed and decided to return to the same father he had abandoned, asking for forgiveness. This story relates to how we leave Christ for our own ways, and return for forgiveness. Look at how the father (and Jesus) respond. Luke 15:20 "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him" He felt compassion for him, ran to him, embraced him and kissed him. He forgave him. How awesome to think of Jesus being filled with compassion for us even when we sin against him. He can't wait for us to repent and come back to him! Luke 15:22-24 "But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate." Jesus CELEBRATES with us when we come to Him! Bahhh .. incredible.
Ok, so I know this was super long but theres just one more thing I can't get off my mind. Everyone knows Paul for being the Christ follower he was. But it just so astounds me that the same guy, before He knew Jesus, had Christians MURDERED. He would get them arrested and then vote against them for the death penalty. How.. harsh.. and cruel.. and insane! Paul even says he did just that in Acts 26:9-11 "I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene. Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities." And yet.. God used him, God loved him, God forgave him. God's forgiveness is crazy. Thank God that He's crazy about us.
I'm hoping you haven't murdered anyone. But even if you have, God wants to forgive you. He's just waiting to embrace you, love you, celebrate with you. You just have to ask.
I am forgiven because God is love.
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