The Beauty of Forgiveness

The most profound mystery in all the universe is that God is willing to forgive sinful and broken men and women. He is not only willing but eager to forgive us of our transgressions against Him. Not only is God willing to forgive, but He offers us eternity in Heaven with Him, where no tears will be shed or pain will be felt. Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” For many of us, we may struggle to believe that we are worthy of His mercy. In the Christian walk, accepting mercy is an appropriate struggle, but it is not something we need to dwell on constantly.  

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Exodus 34:6-7, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” This profound truth comes straight out of the mouth of God, unsolicited. He wanted the nation of Israel to know that this was His character and nature. However, there appears to be a problem for us here because He will “by no means clear the guilty.” Who is the guilty? That is both you and me because all of us have sinned and broken God’s law.  

This is where the Good News of the Gospel comes in: that an innocent and perfect Man paid the price of the guilty so the guilty man could walk free. If you feel that your sinful past is too great to be deserving of forgiveness, you must look deeper at how precious our Savior is. Let me share a quote with you from John Piper: “The blood of Jesus is not precious because it saves us, it saves us because it’s precious.” The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is so powerful, and His shed blood is so precious that God is willing to forgive all that will look to His Son. Where sin has abounded in your past, God’s grace and love are magnified because of Jesus’s death on the cross. Confess your sins to Him today and take comfort in knowing that He is eager to forgive them because by doing so, the precious sacrifice of His Son is glorified even more.