Forgiveness and Grace

One of the greatest gifts we receive from God through Jesus (aside from salvation, which is certainly THE greatest!) is forgiveness. Because we live in a fallen world, there is no one who is perfect; every single human is guilty of sin on a regular basis (Romans 3:23). Even as believers, we are not exempt. Sadly, we too struggle with sinful behavior as long as we remain on this earth. We need forgiveness every day!

The good news is that for those who are called and believe in Him (John 3:16; Romans 8:29-30), Christ paid the penalty for every sin that has been or ever will be committed (2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:7). There’s nothing we’ve done or will do that hasn’t been nailed to the cross. So with hearts full of gratitude, we can repent of our sins and be forgiven every single time (1 John 1:9).

Along with receiving forgiveness ourselves, we are called to forgive as we have been forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15). Knowing that we’ve been pardoned of many wrongs, we are free to extend the same grace to others who offend us. I know this isn’t always easy; depending on the circumstances or wrongs committed, it can be tempting to hold on to resentment or bitterness towards someone else. We all experience pain and suffering caused by another person or people in our lives.

But we have a God who is so much bigger than our hurts and our sorrows (Jeremiah 32:17). He can handle every emotion we cast before Him. His grace and His ways are unstoppable (Romans 5:20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Isaiah 55:10-11)! His power is unmatched and He is more than able to work in our hearts if only we would surrender every struggle and submit to His will (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 12:9; 1 Peter 5:10).

Grace is a powerful thing. We know that it is by grace through faith we are saved; grace tells us we don’t need to earn the salvation we’ve been given so we can rejoice and embrace this beautiful gift (Ephesians 2:5, 8-9; Romans 11:6; Titus 2:11). We can receive grace when we confidently approach the Lord in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16). We are justified by grace—meaning we are declared as righteous in the sight of God, not by our own good works but because of the redemption found in Jesus’ work on our behalf (Romans 3:24). And because we are justified by His grace, we are “made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:7).”

Today let’s be intentional to fix our eyes on Jesus and this hope to come. And let us remember to forgive as we are forgiven and extend grace instead of enacting payback as the world would encourage us to do. As believers we do not conform to the world but we are transformed by God’s Word (Romans 12:1) so that we can truly reflect the essence of Christ and His work in our lives.