I have been thinking…. sometimes I live like I am not REALLY….forgiven. I know cognitively that I am forgiven. But sometimes I live as if I am not forgiven. Sometimes I live as if deep down inside I really believe that God is keeping tally on my sin and that somewhere there is a book with all my sin in it and one day I am going to be called into reckoning. Do you ever feel that way? Let me give you an example so that you won’t get off the hook so easy. You see, saying you believe something and really believing it are really two different things.
Let me give you a couple of examples from my own life that might help jog your thinking as well. Sometimes when I am on a long trip, and let’s say I speed in my car, (and sometimes I do, even though I try not to). I ask God for forgiveness. He forgives me. A few hours pass and I find myself speeding again. So I pray, and I say, God I am sorry for speeding again. I am wondering if the insertion of the word “again” is confusing to God. Here’s why…. in Psalms 103:12 the Psalmist writes “ As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” If I understand that the way it reads, when God forgives my sin he casts it about as far away as it can go.
Here is my dilemma. I remember my sin, but I am thinking that God’s forgiveness is quite unique. He chooses not to remember it. He literally takes it and tosses it eternally away. He is not tallying up my sin. If he did, we would all be in trouble…..big trouble. So why then do we continue to approach God as if he were keeping track of our sin?
There appears to me to be only one reason. “Unbelief”, bold faced unbelief. As a matter of fact, it almost seems to me that in order to believe that God may somehow hold onto my sin I would have to temporarily suspend my belief in the Gospel to do so. The Gospel is really a lot about forgiveness ya know?
It all comes down to this. Do we believe that God’s forgiveness is perfect forgiveness or not? Do we believe that Christ’s payment was sufficient or not? Do we believe that I approach the throne of Grace because of who he is, not because of who I am…. or not?
Take stock of how you approach the throne of Grace. We approach the throne perfectly clean because of the blood of Christ. That ought to be the major compulsion to walk in purity alone. Because of who He is and what he did for us on Calvary.
Are you thinking lightly of God’s forgiveness? Let’s commit together to stop it right now. Let’s walk in joyful thankfulness allowing that lead us to walk in righteousness in Christ.
