Forgiveness

Forgiveness. Set your feet on forgiveness. You stand before the omnipresent throne of the almighty Sovereign God. You don't stand by reason of gravity and electromagnetic forces, but by His will. You stand and do not burn because you are forgiven. The sacrifice of the Son of God, the anointed King of kings, Jesus, God with us, has paid the price of your sins and you stand and do not die before the Holy God on the basis of that forgiveness. Bless His name, meaning, give Him a great reputation, starting with your words of praise.

Let His will be done. Jesus obeyed His Father's will even to the point of death on a cross. It's all well and good for a perfect Son living in Heaven to claim He's perfectly obedient, but true obedience is proven in the tight spots - the places where it hurts you the most to obey. We can't do it. We just aren't up to the task. Jesus did it. We identify with Him through His crucifixion. See yourself on the cross, looking down on your oppressors. See the scoffers who are ignoring your innocence and calling you evil and despised. God said that anyone who is hung on a tree is labeled as evil. You are on a tree. Yet you look at your enemies not with satisfaction at their ultimate demise, but instead you forgive them and love them. You don't even want your death - the death of an innocent - to be in any way counted against them. Your desire is to forgive. That is how Jesus felt on the cross. Jesus feels the desire to forgive. Do you accept that forgiveness? Do you feel it for your enemies?

He is our daily bread. We can't learn of forgiveness today and expect to keep it tomorrow if we don't eat our daily bread - our bread of Life - Jesus. Consume His life into your own. First do what is open to all conscious believers everywhere & when: pray. Meditate on Jesus. Pray to Father, Son and Spirit as appropriate. Next: praise. Preach the gospel to yourself daily. Next: study. How can you know what to praise Him about if you don't know who He is and what He's done? By these means you eat your daily bread. For now, only a full stomach has the strength to forgive. If at all possible, never sacrifice spiritual nourishment.

Jesus knows your every thought, word and deed, now and always. He knows the ways you will sin later on. Yet He forgives you completely to the point that He willingly offers His heart held out in His hand for you to take up and release your own heart of stone into His hands. He takes that stone, cuts it open with the sword of the Spirit, circumcising your heart as you ask Him to circumcise it. Your heart attaches to the only life it feels - His. You feel the beat of His love course into your heart through His forgiveness. You accept His forgiveness and your heart sinks into His heart. Suddenly you know life like never before. Suddenly you know what it means to be alive, and you realize how much of your life you've wasted in death.

Forgiveness bridges the gap. At this point, even if you die, nothing will steal your joy. Only starving yourself of the bread of life could sap your strength. But who can keep you from prayer? May God's grace keep you from sinning and fleeing from the presence of God for the sake of lesser pleasures.

Forgiveness places you in the center of God's will. The blemishes on your soul are being purified, but you stand before your God clothed in the righteousness of the Son of God and you are called a son of God.

Look at the faces of everyone around you. God has the same will to forgive each of them and loves each of them the same as He loves you. He wants you to love them the way He loves them. Sense their relationship to Him and rejoice at their closeness while mourning at their distance. Rejoice in the closeness He has given you and desperately seek to deepen that joy in God. Forgiveness will define you.