Too Good to Be True? I Don't Think So!!
GOD'S GRACE.
When you read these two words what do you thing about? I think we sometimes underestimate these two words and what they mean to us. As humans it is very hard to grasp the meaning of Total Forgiveness because we are so used to putting stipulations on our forgiveness as we look at it from a prideful heart and mind. But God is so much different when it comes to forgiveness, because His great forgiveness is complete. We say that we forgive, but we still have a memory of the wrong and it compromises the completeness of the forgiving. God's grace is not that way. In fact His grace goes the other way. Hebrews 4:16 says 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. God is the ultimate forgiver and when we receive this great grace is should and does change us at our core. His grace shoots into our soul as nothing else can and it generates a great desire to have a closer walk with God. As that sin is forgiven it is no more..... Not even a vapor, but GONE!! Psalm 103:12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
When we learn to receive the full impact of this forgiveness it changes how we look at ourself and at others. We absorb this truth into our soul and at our core we live like forgiven people and that is an attraction to those who don't know Jesus, because they like the freedom they see in us. Heaviness is not in our vocabulary anymore and our ability to forgive others changes how we look at others. Jesus said this about forgiveness in Matthew 6:14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. Now keep in mind Jesus said this after telling them how to pray and part of the Lord's prayer is 12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. Our refusal to forgive others shows that the ability to forgive due to getting this complete forgiveness is not in us. You must have a relationship with Jesus to be able to forgive like forgiven people. That's just the way it is.(ala Bruce Hornsby)
So the logical conclusion would be to come to a saving faith in Jesus, which sets us into a freedom unparalleled by anything else and receive the spiritual ability to live in that freedom, which guarantees the ability to forgive others. Without this true forgiveness you cannot forgive others completely and that stinks. Harmony in churches is dependent on forgiven people knowing how to forgive forgiven people, to which Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9(NLT) 8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
These things in our lives that are to come out due to our receiving His grace at not Too Good to Be True!! THEY ARE JUST TRUTH!!!
The Pilgrimage continues.....
David Warren