I am forgiven!

Because I believe Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, I am forgiven. This is a basic truth in scripture that God can and does forgive sin through the work of Jesus on the cross. Paul, writing to the Colossians, spoke of Father God and the work of God the Son in verses 1:11-14.  “We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.”  God’s forgiveness of our sins is complete and eternal. I love the way Micah 7:18-19 speaks of God’s power and total forgiveness. “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
    and passing over transgression
    for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
    because he delights in steadfast love.
¹⁹He will again have compassion on us;
    he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
    into the depths of the sea. God casts our sins into the depths of the sea to be remembered no more. He isn’t going to drag them up later and hold them against us. They are gone and buried. Isaiah also speaks of God’s dealing with sin as he writes of Hezekiah’s experience with God’s forgiveness. Isaiah 38:17 “Behold, it was for my welfare  that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction,  for you have cast all my sins behind your back.” King Hezekiah knew God’s forgiveness was complete as he had evidenced God’s work in his life.

What about you? Do you know the true forgiveness of God? As believers in Jesus we know that the work of Jesus on the cross was enough for God and that we can and are fully and truly forgiven. Sometimes I think I hold onto my sin and replay and remember my short comings and failures towards myself and others. The holding on is Satan wanting me to feel inadequate and unforgiven. God wants us to live as His children fully forgiven and restored by His Son. Today as you meditate on God’s forgiveness seek to let go and let God transform you with His forgiving power.