Forgiveness. I agree with you that it’s incredibly beautiful and gracious, yet frightening. We hear about it all throughout God’s word, and we know that if we seek it, we just have to graciously and sincerely ask for it. Though we know that it’s obtainable, we often feel selfish asking for it. We’ve been given this incredible gift that we do not deserve -- a gift so humbling and generous that it stretches beyond the imagination. Not only did someone die so that we could live, but He died so that we could be alive forever with Him. This eternal life is only possible because of the fact that, “the wages of sin is death," Romans 6:23 tells us. But here’s the best news of all: we do not have to die because of our sin.
We’ve heard about the words “sin” and “forgiveness” as concepts that could not be farther apart in terms of our positive standings with the Lord. We’ve heard that sinning is something we know we shouldn’t do, but we do it anyway… But why? Why do we do something that Jesus brutally died on a cross to be stopped?
There is no logical answer. Just like a baby learning to walk, all Christians fall down in their walk with the Lord, understandably. God knows that, and God knows of the pressures we face. But, the common confusion is a statement that goes something like this, “He died on a cross so I wouldn’t… and He’ll forgive me anyway, so why not do it?”
I know it sounds like I’m beating a dead horse, and jumping around the question of why we shouldn’t sin, even though we’re forgiven for them already. So, I’ll give a brief overview of that, and then get on with my article.
We’re loved. We’re loved more than we will ever be able to comprehend. The kind of love that will never be able to be achieved on Earth, regardless of how passionately we care for something or someone. We are loved to the point that God didn’t want us to have to go through the anguish and pain that we would’ve had to endure each and every time we would sin. He loved us too much to watch that happen. So, He sent the only Son He had, Jesus, to Earth (the logistics can be found in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), and had Him experience a brutal death so that we wouldn’t have to die the same way. He gave us the opportunity to live a life to glorify Him in everything we do. This brings in a word called “repentance.” Repentance is when you’ve sincerely asked for forgiveness for something from the Lord, and then promise you won’t do it again. Forgiveness doesn’t mean that you can have a mindset of “Good, I’m forgiven - now I can forget about that time, and do it again. I’ll just ask for more forgiveness”... No. That’s not fair. Don’t accept the gift from God that we’ve accepted just to take advantage of it like that. Now, back to the girl who feels like she’ll never be forgiven.
John 8:1-11:
“But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts; where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
This woman was guilty. The entire town knew she was guilty, and Jesus knew she was guilty. She sinned by committing adultery, and was taken to Jesus by the town to get publicly punished for it. But Jesus didn’t tell her she had done something unworthy of being in His presence and walk away. This easily could’ve been done, but He didn’t do that. He challenged the crowd around her by calling their sins into account, and it changes everything. She was forgiven, and told to go live her life free of sin.
Your sins are not the only ones called into account. Every single person on the face of the earth sins -- even those you’d least expect. Guess what? They’re forgiven. And so are you. Never feel like you are unable to be forgiven, because that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Jesus is telling you the same thing He told the adulterous woman: You’re forgiven. He still loves you more than you will ever imagine, and He always will.
