God's Forgiveness

When we look deep into the scriptures, we read a lot about man falling short of the glory of God. We come to realize that no one is perfect. We have all sinned. We have all made mistakes. We have all made God disappointed and sometimes knowing that we have made Him feel that way can be hard to deal with. Here is God, who created us with love and care, who sent His son to die for our sins, and looking back on our past we can see how we have rejected Him in some way. Of course it's natural for us to experience the feelings of guilt and shame, but sometimes we can forget how wonderful God really is.

When I first became a Christian I was still struggling with the demons from my past. For a couples months in my nightly prayers I would ask God to forgive me for all that I had done. I asked Him to see that my heart had changed and that I wasn't the person I once was, but it still burdened my heart to know that I had made so many bad life choices. I felt like the things that I had done were unforgivable and guilt got the best of me. One day though while I was having one of my usual spur of the moment heart to hearts with my mom, things changed for me. I had mentioned to her in our talk that I always asked God for forgiveness for what I had done and that I would lay in bed at night and replay all the mistakes that I had made in my mind. I remember her in that moment looking at me with a smile as she said “Ashley, you have already been forgiven. Remember when you asked God for forgiveness and were baptized? He took those sins away from you and washed them away. You don't need to worry about that anymore.”

Boom. There it was! All this time I had been praying and praying to be forgiven when I had forgotten the whole time that I already had been. I had forgot that when I went down into that water that I was not only putting on Christ but that He had forgiven me as well. 

Acts 3:19 “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,”

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

There is something so wonderful about God's forgiveness that I can't even really explain how it feels. It's such an amazing feeling to know that although I hurt God and turned away from Him, He has always opened His arms to accept me and all my flaws, as He does for you. Not only does this remind me of how awesome He really is, but also how we need to learn from His example.

Sometimes when people do us wrong, it is hard to forgive them. It's difficult to know somebody who maybe you know has done something wrong or has hurt someone that you love, but through God's example we have to learn to forgive not only ourselves for our sins, but also for the others around us.

Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

It's not always easy to get to this point of forgiveness, but with God's example we know that it is possible. We all have a great opportunity to let God work through us and we have the chance to show others who God is through loving each other and showing them compassion. God's forgiveness is so powerful, and we should always strive to be more like Him.