Forgiveness

My relationship with the Lord begins with His forgiveness for my sins; He forgave me of my sins before I ever committed the act of sin. His forgiveness was there during the kiss of betrayal Judas gave, during the trial with Pilate, during the public flogging and the ridicule and disgrace; during His heartbreak when one of His closest friends denied even knowing Him.


During the agony of the crucifixion Jesus forgave that lie I told my teacher in fourth grade. He forgave the rebellion I felt against my parents when I was a two year old and again when I was a teen. Jesus forgave me when I used others to get something I wanted, without thinking of how it would make them feel. Jesus forgave me of laziness, of self-centeredness and the list is far too long to continue.

Those were all symptoms, and He forgave each one. He also forgave me of the cause of all these symptoms which was putting me first before Him. He forgave me of placing myself above The God of all creation: even my own creation in my mother’s womb.

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3

When my spiritual eyes were opened and I realized I had committed the sin of molding myself into my god, and asked Him (Jesus) to forgive me; He then applied the forgiveness He had came and died for so long ago personally to my life. He took me under his wing and began to teach me a better way: His way.

“The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou are come to trust.” Ruth 2:12

When I am slow to learn, or just stubborn and refuse; He corrects me and patiently waits for me to understand and ask forgiveness. He always in His grace is there to apply forgiveness when I am willing to change the wrong behavior.

He began to instruct or teach me to “go and do likewise”. The more I study Jesus, and how He lived, the more important forgiveness stands forward in my relationship with Him: And my relationship with Him is the most important relationship I have.

Because He tells me to learn of Him, (take my yoke upon you) and I obey, I cannot help but know that He has placed a condition on my forgiveness.

His only condition was that I must turn away from my sin of self-worship and ask forgiveness. That was the day He saved my soul. Praise God! I am no longer an orphan without a permanent home. When He applied His forgiveness that day, He gave me a position in His family and a place in His home.

He forgave my sin, and He forgot it: He will never bring my sins, which I committed before my spiritual eyes were open, before me or Him anymore. The burden I carried for so long is forever gone. In the light of eternity, they are remembered no more, but I may still have to deal with the consequences of those forgiven sins.

David knew there were consequences for sin, even forgiven sin. Understanding this he said, after he came to God and repented,

“For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.”
Psalm 51: 3

Verse 4 of the same chapter lets me know that David knew when all is said and done, all sin is against a holy God.

“Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight:”
Psalm 51:4a

He acknowledged his sin and repented for it. David also told God that he realized He (God) would be justified with whatever correction He would hand down, and he (David) didn’t want God to find him trying to hide anything from an all knowing God. As you will read in the second part of verse four.

“”that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” Psalm 51:4b

David knew that God wanted to hear the truth from his own lips, although God already knew what David had done. Then in the verses that followed David pleads for mercy to be given along with the justice or the consequences he knew would come as a result of his sin.

The situation David is talking about here in Psalm 51 was something that David had brought upon himself. But there are times when people commit sins against me. Do the rules change? Jesus says, “No”. You can find His thoughts on this in Matthew chapter 18.

The rules are the same. God is no respecter of persons.