Forgiven

I've been thinking about what it means to be forgiven.
Forgiven for every offense.
Forgiven for every wrong.
Forgiven not by man but by God, the One we have ultimately offended. The One who had to die for the things we did.
Think about it again. He forgave us completely for the very things that took Him to His death.
And not only are we forgiven for them but we are free from the bonds they create in us.

In my teens and early twenties I must have been on some sort of quest to see how badly I could mess up my life. I think I ran out of brain cells for a few years and just became stupid.
Completely void of any sense.
Too full of myself and doing what I wanted to do to care about anything else.
Like I said, stupid.

But in the middle of my messes God was there. I ignored His voice but He kept after me.
He pursued me even while I was doing things that hurt Him, time after time.
That is His love. That is His grace.

And one day, when I was miserable and broken hearted, I looked up and found the compassionate face of Jesus looking at me, looking at the blackness of my spirit and I heard Him say, "Come away from this, let me wash you, let me rescue you. Let me have your heart."

Flat on my face, I pleaded with Him to forgive me. Oh the many offenses. So much wrong!
How could He forgive it all?

Grace. Amazing Grace.

In an instant all that was....wasn't anymore.
His blood poured over me in cleansing and restoration.
And the LONG list of sins were no longer there.
Erased.
Erased by the very blood that was shed because of them .And on the page they had been listed, there was nothing but a pure white blankness, as if the list of sins had never been there.
No marks of the sin remained.
Pure and clean. Spotless.

The definition of forgiveness is to grant pardon, to cease to feel resentment, to cancel all indebtedness.
But God's idea of forgiveness goes further still.
He removes it as far away from Himself as possible. He forgets it as if it had never happened. He will never bring it up to you again. You are no longer connected to it in any way. It does not define or shape how He sees you. It is all washed away and you are left pure and without blemish or blame.
And completely wrapped into His love.

Because of the miracle of God's forgiveness, today I stand free from all my past.
I don't bear the guilt.
I don't live in bondage.
I don't have to worry about it.
Because I've been FORGIVEN. FOREVER.
I live now in freedom from all the past because I know when God looks at me, He never ever sees what I was. He sees the blood of Christ and His righteousness. He sees a life changed. Redeemed. Brought out of sin and set free to live in His grace and love.

I have left my past and it's sinfulness behind to press on to the life God wants His forgiven people to live.
A life that proclaims that forgiveness with great thankfulness for that work. A life that is different than it was because it has been radically changed and wholly forgiven.
If I'm not living differently, I'm not living in thankfulness for that forgiveness and the work of the cross that brought me that forgiveness.

And because there is, stamped across my heart with the seal of Holy Spirit, the words FORGIVEN,
One day I will stand before Him.
And I won't have to be afraid.
I won't have to hide sin.
I won't have to wonder if I've been good enough (because I could never be).
I will just crumble to His feet in awe and gratitude and cry from the depths of my soul,
THANK YOU, FATHER, FOR FORGIVING ME!

And then He'll take my hand, look into my eyes with great love, smile the warmest most amazing smile one could ever dream of, and say to me.....
WELCOME HOME!