From the Pulpit: Forgiveness that you can believe

There is a feeling of deep angst – when you know that you have done something that you can’t take back. You’ve hurt someone else and although you’ve said sorry, the one sorry doesn’t seem to be enough. You feel like this is a “sorry” that you’ll need to keep saying. That perhaps by the sorrow that you feel and the sincerity of your “sorry’ s”, you can atone for the hurt that you’ve caused. 

This is a guilt that is driven so deep that even when you hear words of forgiveness, you have a really hard time believing them. You so desperately want those words to be true because you want relief that comes from forgiveness. But that relief feels elusive or even unattainable. 

Methods that don’t work abound… 

You can try really hard to turn your life around and start living differently. But, you realize that can’t take away your past. You’ll spend a lot of time trying to forget your past or trying to convince yourself that your good outweighs your bad. 

You can try your best to go into that sadness and live in it as a punishment of sorts to atone for what you’ve done. But, how will you know that you’ve felt bad enough for long enough. 

In the face of that angst, in the face of that guilt, God supplies you with an actual solution. He shows you the cross. 

You see, that thing that you feel really bad about… that was punished by God already. Jesus was punished for that sin on the cross. It was there that the full wrath of God was unleashed on the sins of the world … which, yes, includes your sins. 

Which is why the cross isn’t just the place where God’s judgment was shown, but also the place where his mercy is best seen. At the cross God poured out his love on all of mankind, by providing a substitute. There, Jesus made the sacrifice once and for all. 

His once for all sacrifice means that when he announces to you the gospel – that you are forgiven through his sacrifice – you can believe it. It wouldn’t take multiple sacrifices to atone for your sin. You don’t need to add in any more sacrifice … Jesus took care it once for all. 

That means that you live in GRACE. When you hear the words of forgiveness, you can believe and not doubt. When you hear the words of forgiveness, you truly have the relief that is not unattainable – it was attained through Jesus. 

Supplement this devotion by reading from Hebrews 9:24-28.