Daily Devotion

Forgiveness 


1 John 1:9
   If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (KJV)

His forgiveness is instant! Jesus' death on the cross and his rising from the dead, earned our forgiveness. You have confessed your sins, and God has forgiven you. That simple. If you are feeling guilty and beating yourself up for your past - stop. You as are playing judge over your life where God has already pronounced forgiveness. Are you a higher judge than God? I think not.
The difficult truth is, while our sins are forgiven the moment we confess them to God and repent; do all we cannot to walk back the same way we walked before, we often have to live with the earthly consequences of our sin. For example, we who have overeaten, smoked and drank heavily all our lives, may have health difficulties because of our sin of gluttony. God's forgiveness is there for us but our bodies may still bear the burden of decades of abuse.
Sometimes, others choose not to forgive us for things we have done against them and in that unfortunate case, all we can do is ask their forgiveness and go as far as we can in restitution. However, God's forgiveness is instant. They choose by their unforgiveness to hold us to a higher standard than God holds us. We can walk in freedom of forgiveness, deep within our hearts, by allowing Christ's death and rising from the dead to bring us to new life. God never refuses a truly repentant heart.
If we "die" to sin, that is, repent of the specific sin, saying we are deeply sorry for that particular sin, take total responsibility for that sin, and take that sin to the "cross" of forgiveness, we've done our job. God's job is to forgive us,
If you will not accept God's forgiveness, then you are in danger of committing another sin. You are saying. "God, your forgiveness isn't good enough. I refuse to forgive myself!"
When we don't forgive ourselves, we hold ourselves in chains. We find we cannot overcome the sin in our lives... because our unforgiveness to ourselves becomes a heavy chain around our neck that pulls us back down into sin repeatedly. However, when we accept God's forgiveness and we forgive ourselves, we give God permission to snap that heavy chain from around our neck and we no longer find ourselves sinking under that horrible weight.
An important point to remember is - forgiveness is not an emotion, it is a legal transaction. God knows you are guilty of your sin, and He knows the only way for you to find forgiveness of that sin is through the death of His Son, Jesus. Jesus stands for you in the court of Law, and says. "I have taken the punishment for this sin on the cross and I rose from the dead so this one can be set free." Jesus took our punishment. Once we confess our sins, we are forgiven. We do not need to wait for a warm fuzzy feeling of acceptance to know we are forgiven. We only have to look to the Cross and know that we are indeed forgiven. Jesus paid the price; he took our place, and took our punishment.
As is said often in your denominational tradition... "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the Sins of the World." You are part of that world and so you have been given an invitation to live in that forgiveness. Once you have given yourself to God and you have surrendered your life to Him, you have full access to that forgiveness, every day, every hour.
Does this mean that you won't have to face earthly consequences for your now forgiven sin? Unfortunately, that is not always the case. We often have to walk out the consequences of our sinful actions and the Lord will often prompt us to pay restitution to those we wronged. The restitution could be as simple as a heartfelt apology and accepting full responsibility for our actions. It could be as complicated as paying for the damage we have caused others. It could mean legal ramifications in the court system. It is important to note that those consequences have nothing to do with the fact you are forgiven and they should never be seen as a sign as God's punishment over you. Jesus paid your debt and in the eyes of God, there is nothing between you and his loving arms.