Own Forgiveness

 Sins – they are certainly troublesome things!  As Christians, we have the wonderful gift that our Savior gave us, the full forgiveness of our sins.  His suffering and death were for each one of us.  Because He died, we get to live, knowing that our sins have been forgiven and that we will one day enter heaven’s gates.  All because Jesus loves us.  One of the greatest gifts we have because of Jesus’ death is to know that each of our sins, great or small, has been wiped away.

Yet, there are days when my sins come back to haunt me.  My sins may be removed in Jesus eyes, and I know in my heart that they are, but there are days when the memories of my sins weigh me down.  It’s the forgiving and forgetting balance.  Think about times when someone has sinned against you.  They ask for your forgiveness and you give it.  Yet, the true forgetting of that sin?  No so easy to do!  We may hold onto it for a while – loathe in a bit of self-pity.  We may stew in silence with the other person not quite understanding what is happening; they were forgiven, right?  We forgive, but we don’t forget.

The same happens for our own sins.  We may know that we are forgiven, and truly believe it, but there are times when we can’t forget.  Those are difficult times as we reflect on our sins.  This is when today’s Bible verse becomes a wonderful reminder of sins forgiven.  Our sins aren’t just forgiven, they are removed!   They are as if they don’t exist.  The devil does his job with us, trying to bring them back.  Our Lord gently reminds us that our sins are no more.  There is nothing to forget for they are removed.

This is the awesome wonder of Jesus’ love.  Our minds can’t comprehend how someone who suffered so much for MY sins wouldn’t want me to live just a little bit of suffering.  Our Jesus?  Not a chance.  He loves us so very much that He doesn’t want us to suffer over our sins as He suffered over our sins.  A love like that doesn’t exist here on earth.  We believe, we have simple faith, and we know that true unconditional love comes from the One who suffered so our sins aren’t just forgiven and forgotten, they are removed.  There is relief and warmth knowing that our Lord loves us that much.  Let’s forgive ourselves, as Jesus forgives us, and replace our sins with love!

Dearest Jesus, it’s hard for us humans to reconcile our sinful nature.  Our sins can come back to haunt us and weigh on us.  Yet, you remind us that you are here, right beside us, to remove our sins and fill us with your love.  Thank you will never be enough.  May you always receive our praise, thanksgiving, and love.  Amen!