Forgiveness: Part 1

Forgiveness. What great freedom and truth are found in this one word. And yet what mass confusion there is about what forgiveness is and requires. I have experienced myself that forgiveness is a journey, a way of life. My relationship with Christ has shown me that on the path to forgiveness there are 4 mile stones most people go through or stumble upon. This week I would like to talk about The Corner Stone of forgiveness: Jesus Christ.

All journey's must begin somewhere and I firmly believe that to even get on the path of forgiveness you MUST first have a understanding of why Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are so crucial to our salvation. Ponder this, how amazing that before you or I were even born all our sins were forgiven. We have been pardoned from our offense and the payment of our debt has been paid in full by Jesus Christ when he rose from the dead and ascended to his rightful place beside God. And even though this gift of salvation is free; there is no work on our part to be done for this forgiveness of our sin (remember the price has already been paid), unless we accept this forgiveness we live a life in bondage to sin. Forever separated from God. I like the way Biblos.com states it:

" The effect of forgiveness is to restore to its former state the relationship which was broken by sin. Such a restoration requires the cooperation of both parties. There must be both a granting and an acceptance of the forgiveness. Sincere, deep-felt sorrow for the wrong which works repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10) is the condition of mind which insures the acceptance of the forgiveness."

The willingness to give forgiveness has already happened. Through Christ's obedience to death, God raised Him up and forever broke the chains of death on each believer. And just like any gift when it is given, it must be received. This is the first step and the corner stone of forgiveness: Accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior.