pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: forgiveness


by 4 Comments

A Great Mystery of Faith

One of the things universal to mankind is our proclivity to sin.  In our daily lives, temptation is all around us.  We can do certain things that makes us less likely to sin, but Satan is always at work.  Even for those that do not have a belief in God, they too have an innate sense of right and wrong.  Sin is all around us and the world’s messages are ‘just go for it’ and do whatever feels good.  But these are not God’s messages.  His message is to be like Jesus.

One of the things that is offered universally by God is grace.  His mercy and the grace offered is available to all.  His prevenient grace rests upon each and every person.  His mercy is a free gift that cannot be earned.  It is a birthrite to be claimed by all through faith in Jesus Christ.  Once a child of God, His mercies, grace, and forgiveness flow freely.  Once a child, His grace works to sanctify us, to make us daily more like His son Jesus.

God’s grace is one of the great mysteries of faith.  God’s grace is present with us from the beginning.  Once we enter into relationship with Him, we are changed, born anew.  Although we are still bent towards sin, we are bought with Jesus’ blood and begin the daily battle to ‘sin no more’.  This is a battle that we sometimes ‘lose’ but, thanks be to God, His mercies are new every morning.  Each and every time we seek His forgiveness, His grace pours down like rain.  We are washed clean and made new.  Thank you Lord for this great mystery of faith!

Scripture reference: Romans 11: 29-32


by Leave a comment

How Do You Repsond?

Many times in life we are present in a situation where we have been wronged.  In each case we can offer mercy and forgiveness or we can be self-righteous or maybe offer an ‘I-told-you-so’ type of response.  One response brings healing and another continues the hurt.  So… why does the wrong choice often seem so much easier?

I think at times God places us in situations to test and refine our faith.  Sometimes another needs to see what this love of Christ really looks like.  (Once in a while we are that person too!)  Sometimes it is to refine our faith in God.  Through prayer and the reading of the word, we come to the place where we are ready to offer forgiveness and reconciliation.  It is also through prayer that we can come to love our enemies.

What allows us to make that hard choice?  It is the relationship we form and develop with Jesus Christ.  Through times with Him in prayer and through reading the stories in the gospel, we come to see our call to love all above self more and more.  Through our journey to draw closer to Jesus, we too draw nearer to our fellow man.

Scripture reference: Genesis 45: 1-8


by Leave a comment

All Are Welcome

The feeding of the 5000 in the wilderness is much like the giving of the manna to the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness.  In both cases the people of God were in need and He responded by providing their sustenance.

The giving and sharing of the bread has become such an integral part of the church’s life.  As the people of God gather to celebrate communion, we are connecting back to the manna and the loaves.  Through the bread of communion, God is both providing for our need and also reminding us of Jesus’ sacrifice.  Through His broken body and spilled blood we find forgiveness for our sins.  Through the bread and cup we are celebrating Jesus’ mighty act that cleanses us of our sins and leads us out of our own personal wilderness and back into relationship with God.

Like the loaves, when we come to the table, all are fed.  When we come to the common table to celebrate holy communion, there is no cost. The price has been paid for each of our sins.  All are welcome to come and lay it all before the cross.  It does not matter what we come with or how many sins we are bearing.  All is left at the foot of the cross.  And after we take the bread and the cup and confess our sins to God, we walk away fully cleansed, wholly restored.

Scripture reference: Matthew 14: 13-21


by Leave a comment

Ever Thankful

Our human nature naturally seeks what we perceive as best for us.  At times we may even rationalize and blur the lines for something we want.  It may be as simple as to win at a game or it may be as complex as attaining a position at work.

And then we realize the error of our ways.  The guilt – and not always in proportion to our sin – begins to set in.  We seek forgiveness – maybe from another, maybe from God, maybe from yourself, maybe from all three!  We try to ‘fix’ it if we can and try to restore our relationships and our reputation.  Maybe we even vow, “never again”.

At the point of repentance, God’s grace washes over us like a mighty river.  He washes away all of our iniquities and renews our soul.  His free gift is always there, always extended.  I am ever thankful for the price Jesus paid to wash away my sins.  Praise be to God for His amazing gift!

Scripture reference: Genesis 28: 10-19a


by Leave a comment

Breathe In, Breathe Out

As the disciples hid in the room following Jesus’ death, I wonder what the strongest emotion was – fear of the Jews, sorrow and grief over the loss of Jesus, confusion about what to do next, uncertainty about hearing Jesus is alive, shame for abandoning Him?  Each of the disciples was probably feeling a mix of at least a few of these emotions.

Then suddenly, Jesus is standing right there.  Speaking right into all of the emotions that the disciples must have been going through, He offers them His peace and shows them his nail-scarred hands and feet.  He first restores their friendship and then removes any doubt with a physical sign.  Jesus is saying, “It’s OK” and “See, it’s me!”

Jesus then breathes on the disciples the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  He shares with them His power.  The disciples are then charged to go out and offer forgiveness of sins to those who seek forgiveness.  The disciples can go forth and unbind others from the sins that hold them down.  Just as Jesus entered that room and offered the disciples peace and relief from all that was keeping them bound up, the disciples can now too offer that to others.  Like the disciples being able to walk from that room of hiding out into the open, with forgiveness others can walk from darkness into the light.

The Holy Spirit, through Jesus’ power, offers us that same gift.  We can breath in the Holy Spirit, receive forgiveness, and breathe out God’s love.  As His disciples today, we can help others to become unbound from what keeps them hiding in that small, dark room.  We may not be able to forgive their sins, but we can certainly share the One with them who can forgive their sins and restore them.  May we allow the Holy Spirit to be ever-present with us so that we can breath in and breathe out.


by Leave a comment

The Index Cards of Sin

In Psalm 130, the psalmist is so right – who could stand if God kept a record of our sins?  Imagine if each of our sins was written on an index card!  How high the stack would be.  But what if we pulled out all the sins that were just against God?  Would the stack be appreciably smaller?  I don’t think so.

As I think on my sins, most involve another person.  That’s why I think my stack would still be pretty high.  I’d guess most of us seek forgiveness from God for our sin on a regular basis – daily if not more often!  But what about the sin that involve and affect other people?  Certainly for the blatant and most egregious we seek forgiveness from the injured parties.  But what of the ‘lesser’ sins – the unkind thoughts and the unholy looks?  They are another matter!  For me, these sins would represent most of my stack of index cards.  And you?

Yet in the end these sins are also between us and God.  They are the ones I am ashamed of.  I can come to God with my big sins because they are so obvious and so in need of redeeming.  But these little ones are harder to name and to lay bare before God.  Is this because they are the sins I so struggle to fully set aside?  But each day we can lay these sins before Him and they are cast aside and forever forgotten.  As we feel the freedom of redemption, we also must seek to repent and to be at work against these sins in our lives, to sin less often.  This day and each day, may we grow more into Christ so that our stack grows more slowly!!


by Leave a comment

Thanks Be to JC!!

In Romans 5 we find many of the great cornerstones of our faith.  Paul had quite a way with words!  In the first part of Romans 5 Paul reviews the basics of the faith – Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead.  Jesus made the choice to die for our sins.  He chose to take upon himself the sin of the world and to shed His own blood for us.  Through Jesus, God restored every person’s connection to Himself.  Up to this point there was a lack of personal connection.  The priests played the role of intermediary between God and the Jewish people.  Sacrifices were made on behalf of the people to atone for their sins.  Reconciliation came through these ritual sacrifices.

As Paul writes, at just the right time Christ died for us.  While we were still sinners, He died for us.  Jesus was and is our sacrifice.  He opened to us and to all mankind that conduit to God.  We come ourselves before God seeking forgiveness so that we can be reconciled to Him.  We do not need a human intermediary.  Nor do we need a ritual sacrifice.  For us that was and is Jesus on the cross.  Because Jesus defeated death and rose to live eternally, He will always be there to intercede on our behalf.  He will always be with us, through the work of the Holy Spirit, to guide and lead us in this life.  Through Him we grow to be more and more ike the Father.  Through him we are continually reconciled.  Through Him we repent, are washed clean, and are restored to the righteous relationship with God.  Thanks be to Jesus Christ!!


by Leave a comment

Taking Notice

Sin can be a lot like bad food you ate at a restaurant.  When you partook, you certainly enjoyed it!  Yet later, as much as you try to keep it down, it just gurgles away and makes you take notice.  In a fit of kindness, you may even think it is not the restaurant’s fault.  As we gaze in the mirror of our souls, we may even think it is the other driver’s fault they didn’t sense we wanted to change lanes or that our spouse didn’t know we were upset with something that happened at work or maybe it was the overly sensitive person at the meeting that should’ve known you were only joking.  But when we lean in and take a closer look…

The sin in our lives doesn’t go away either if we just try and pretend it is not there.  It festers away and begins to sap our strength and energy.  It wedges the guilt right in there – between us and God or between you and a friend, co-worker, or spouse.  As with bad food, it is often only later that we realize, “Uh-oh…”

Yet there is great news!!  When we confess our sins before God we can find love, and mercy, and forgiveness.  He draws us back to Himself and teaches us a better way.  He wants to guide us to a new and better way – His way of love.  God desires for us to love others as He loves us.  And when we go to our friend, co-worker, or spouse and humbly confess our sin and seek their forgiveness, they too will welcome us back into relationship with them.  And then we rejoice, for the lost has been found, the broken has been fixed.  We rejoice in our mighty savior as He pours out His love upon us each and every day.  Thanks be to God!