Daily devotion – forgiveness
Eph 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
Mat 26:28 “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
When we forgive someone for a debt or an offense or injury, we don’t require a payment to settle manner. That would be the opposite to forgiveness. If repayment is made to us for what we lost, there is no need for forgiveness. We have our due.
Forgiveness assumes grace. If I am injured by someone, grace lets it go. It’s the opposite to judgment. I don’t take you to court. I forgive you. Grace gives what someone does not deserve. That is why forgiveness has the word GIVE in it. Forgiveness is not getting even. It is giving away the right to get even.
That is what God does when we trust our lives to Jesus Christ. Act 10:43 “To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”
If we believe in Jesus Christ, God no longer holds our sins against us. This is God’s own testimony in the Bible – Isa 43:25 “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”
Psa 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
But this raises a problem – we all know forgiveness is not enough. We may only see it clearly when the injury is great – like the taking of someone’s life (murder). Neither society nor the universe can hold together if judges (or God) simply say to every murderer – “Are you sorry? Okay. The government forgives you. You may go.”
In cases like these we see that while a victim may have a forgiving spirit, the government cannot cast aside justice.
So it is with God’s justice. All sin is serious, because it is against God. He is the one whose glory is injured when we ignore or disobey Him.
This is why David said what he did after his sin of adultery with Bathsheba – Psa 51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight. When Joseph was under threat from Potiphar’s wife he said, Gen 39:9 “There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
God’s justice will no more allow Him simply to set us free than a human judge can cancel all the debts that criminals owe to a society. The injury is done to God’s glory by our sin must be repaired so that in justice His glory shines more brightly.
If we sinners are to go free and be forgiven, there must be some dramatic demonstration that the honour and holiness of God is upheld even though former blasphemers are being set free – as was Paul.
It is for this reason the Jesus Christ suffered and died on the Cross at Calvary. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” Forgiveness costs us nothing. All our costly obedience is the fruit, not the root, of being forgiven. That is why we call it grace. But it cost Jesus His life!
That is why we call it just. Taking all this together, we can only say, “ How precious is the news that God does not hold our sins against us! And how beautiful is Christ, whose blood made it right for God to do this.
Grace is free but it is not cheap – it cost the death of the Son of God, our Lord and Saviour!