Friday, August 21, 2015

Extreme Forgiveness

21 But if the wicked man turns from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all My statutes and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
22 None of his transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; for his righteousness which he has executed [for his moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation], he shall live. Ezekiel 18
This really makes a beautiful picture in my head.  Every person is wicked and sinful.  There's nothing we can do to get around it.  Before we come to Christ, we are wicked.  However, when we turn from our sinful ways and embrace Christ, we are washed clean.  We will live eternally with him and not die.
Get this: God will not remember any of the sins we committed prior to turning to follow Jesus!
When we meet God, he'll welcome us with open arms. He won't smile and nudge us to say, "Hey, remember that time three years ago that you sinned?  Yeah, that was bad, but I forgave you for it."  It says he won't remember any of our transgressions!
This is a really difficult concept for us to get our heads wrapped around.  Maybe it's just me.  This is complete and total forgiveness.  Forgiveness to the point where God doesn't even remember the sin we committed.  Can we ever truly forgive someone that much?  To the point where we don't hold onto any nugget of how someone has wronged you?
Forgiveness is powerful.  This last week, I attended my mother-in-law's church in Cleveland and the pastor gave an incredibly powerful sermon on "The Real F-Bomb."
Go take a look at it.  It certainly resonated with me, I've watched it at least twice since attending service on Sunday.  I had no idea that it would perfectly tie in with my devotion for the week, but sometimes God puts things right in front of you and there's no avoiding it.

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