Faithful To Forgive

Devotional

Jesus died for my sins, and God no longer holds them against me. From the outside, that can seem like permission to carry on sinning, but in reality, when I glimpse the cost, the sacrificial love, and the horror which Christ endured on the cross, on my behalf – sin loses its appeal. So if John’s letter says “everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning” why then do I find that I continue to sin? Does that mean I’m not a Christian after all? And if John also says “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” is he contradicting himself?  Well, the short answer is, no he’s not.

Many things happened when Jesus died on the cross – our status before God changed from enemies to friends, from rebel to adopted child. He paid for our sins, past, present and future. The way we know that we are genuinely God’s children is that sin becomes more and more repugnant to us. The cross is like a light which shines into our lives, and shows up sin for what it really is – filthy, offensive, deadly. The Christian is called to learn this lesson over and over, because as we do this, we also learn the more important lesson of the goodness and faithfulness of God.

I wrote this song because of how lightly I regard my own sin. I weed out the leaves, but soon discover that the roots stubbornly remain, and I find myself coming back to God for forgiveness again, often for the same thing. That can be a shameful experience. Sometimes it’s when I’m driving my car. I make a selfish move, or get a sudden rush of pride or anger, and I find myself, afterwards, soberly reflecting on some rash action, thinking “where did that come from?” I resolve to be more calm and gracious in my driving, but how long does that resolution last?

If God only gave us one opportunity to repent and turn from our sin, we would have blown it almost immediately, but on the cross Christ won a perpetual victory. His Spirit works within us to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and we have permission to enter the most holy throne-room of God, again and again, to ask His forgiveness – pointing to His Son’s cross, and saying “that was for me”.   Sin takes hold of us, and puts chains on us. It promises more satisfaction than it can ever deliver, and it is a slow poison that must be treated with the double antidote of repentance and forgiveness. Sometimes we must confess to one another, and that helps us be honest, to build up one another, speaking truth and comfort into each others’ lives, and not hiding behind pretence of piety. But more important is our confession to God, because our sin is primarily a sign of our rebellion against Him, and He is the only one who can forgive it, because of the propitiation of Jesus. But He is faithful to forgive. What a saviour!