Anchoring ourselves in God’s forgiveness
Could God ever forgive me? What if He won’t? Many of us live in a state of perpetual uncertainty about our pasts and whether God truly does forgive. One of the great things about our GOD IS series so far has been the reminder that in the midst of the complexities and messiness of our lives God is indeed who He says He is. And one of the characteristics that God reveals about Himself is that He is forgiving.
Imagine no more guilt, no more shame, no more wondering if you can move on because God hasn’t forgiven you. One of the beautiful things about the Christian life is that we can know that we are forgiven by the God who created us. We can anchor our lives in the truth that He has washed away all our sin. Jesus, through His death on the cross, purchased our freedom from the weight that sin, guilt and shame put on us. And He rescues us from the despair that so often accompanies our past sins and mistakes. Instead of continuing to be washed about by the waves of our failures, we can be secured in the truth that God is forgiving and promises to forgive us.
Here are six scriptures that can help us understand how forgiving God is. Let these sink deep into your hearts and minds and let His Word dictate who you are and your standing before Him.
- Psalms 103:1-3 & 12. “Forgives ALL our sins…REMOVES our sin as far as the EAST is from the WEST…”
-Not just some of them but all of them! Even the ones we are most ashamed of. And not just that, He then removes them from our identity and separates our status as completely forgiven child of God and sinner as far as can be imagined!
2. Micah 7:18-19. “..PARDONS, FORGIVES, and will TREAD our sins underfoot and HURL all our iniquities into the depths of the sea”
-God doesn’t just forgive and pardon our sins in a very calm and collected way. He goes as far as stomping our sins under his feet before throwing them to the very bottom of the ocean.
- Isaiah 1:18-19 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as WHITE AS SNOW; though they are red as crimson, they shall be LIKE WOOL.
-His forgiveness is so complete that we don’t even carry a tinge of sinfulness. Not even the faintest of a stain!
- Isaiah 38:17 “In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; YOU HAVE PUT ALL MY SINS BEHIND YOUR BACK.
-Not in front, or between us and God where it would effect face to face friendship. Puts new meaning to the phrase, “put it behind you!” God has done that with our sin!
- Isaiah 43:25 ” I, am He who BLOTS OUT your transgressions, for my own sake, and REMEMBERS YOUR SINS NO MORE.
-When you forget something, you still have the ability to remember it someday if something jogs your memory. That is why God doesn’t just forget our sin, He chooses not to even remember it!
- Isaiah 44:22 “I HAVE SWEPT AWAY YOUR OFFENCES LIKE A CLOUD, YOUR SINS LIKE THE MORNING MIST…”
-God does not have a Google cloud account where he stores our sins to bring up at a future date. They have been swept away permanently!
For many of us, we allow the voice of our past to be louder than the voice of God. We can see clearly in these scriptures that God does indeed forgive, there is no limit to His forgiveness and the question of whether “I am forgiven” no longer needs to rule our lives. We can know that because God in His everlasting Word has said it, it is so. So rest in the truth that God is forgiving. Anchor your soul in that and pursue a life of knowing you are forgiven by God.
(Blog written by Grant Lombard, who is currently an intern at Life Changers. Having studied journalism at UCT, he went onto work for the YMCA on campus. Grant has a passion for discipleship, the Word of God and any kind of sport.)