This is the final installment in my forgiveness series. We have looked at
forgiving others, forgiving ourselves and asking God for forgiveness. Today we
will look at accepting God's forgiveness.
This past Tuesday I went with my son's second-grade class on a field trip to
the NC Zoo. The teacher divided up the students among us parents. I of course
had my son Bobby, another boy and thank goodness, three sweet girls. The one
boy (not my son) was simply out of control. He would not listen, ran all over
the place, picked plants, threw things at the baboons and was simply not
behaving very well.
When we all met back at the bus, the teacher asked me how my group had
behaved. I told her all was well except the one boy. She was not very happy.
Wednesday night the boy's mom called me. She said her son wanted to apologize
for his behavior. He came on the line and was very contrite. He apologized for
all his wrongs. I simply said, "I forgive you; please don't act like that
again." But then he just kept on saying how sorry he was. I said again,
"It's ok. Thanks for calling. You are forgiven." He repeated his
remorseful apology. Finally I said, "Son, just accept my forgiveness and
get on with life." The phone went silent, his mom came back on and I told
her thanks. This eight-year-old boy had the same problem many of us have: We
can't seem to fully accept God's forgiveness.
Three of the definitions of "acceptance" in the Encarta World
English
Dictionary are as follows:
1. saying yes: a written or verbal indication that somebody agrees to an
invitation
2. taking of a gift: the willing receipt of a gift or payment
3. willingness to believe: willingness to believe that something
is true
Encarta® World English Dictionary [North
American Edition] © & (P) 1999-2000
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
1 John 1:9 (LB) But if we confess
our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from
every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because
Christ died to wash away our sins.
Luke 5:20 (LB)Seeing their faith,
Jesus said to the man, "My friend, your sins are forgiven!"
Hewbrews (LB) 10:10 Under this new
plan we have been forgiven and made clean by Christ's dying for us once and
for all.
Hebrews 10:18 (LB) Now, when sins
have once been forever forgiven and forgotten, there is no need to offer more
sacrifices to get rid of them.
God says a resounding yes when we ask for His forgiveness of our sins. The
invitation is always open for us to accept His forgiveness. But those of us
who have a hard time forgiving ourselves, also seem to have a hard time
accepting God's forgiveness.
God's forgiveness is a gift to us. As the Encarta definition points out,
acceptance means that we must be willing to receive that gift. The gift and
payment are provided byJesus' death on the cross for our sins -- not only the
sins we committed in the past, but ALL sins, past, present and future.
Acceptance of God's forgiveness is an act of faith on our part. It takes faith
in God to stop beating ourselves up. We sometimes feel we don't deserve to be
forgiven, and that is true; none of us deserve it. The forgiveness is
unmerited. It takes faith to start believing that He really does forgive us
and love us unconditionally, no matter what we have done. Our God is a God of
promises. He delights in making promises and keeping those promises. And in 1
John 1:9 we have the promise that He will forgive us if we ask for it.
Father, help us to understand your
irrational and unconditional love for us. Help us to accept your forgiveness
and move forward in our lives. Help us to grow closer to you. Give us the
strength to move away from our sinful past and toward your Holiness. Thank you
for having an offer of forgiveness waiting only for our asking and accepting.
In the name of the Author and Perfector of our faith, Who bought our
forgiveness with His blood, Jesus.
David
