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Begin with Repetance...
By Rory Ries
One of the many characteristics of our Great God is His love for His creation. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This plan had to be put into effect because man has sinned and has separated himself from God (Isaiah 59:2). We also know the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). All have sinned and yet God is willing to forgive and offer the gift of salvation because He loves His creation (Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:10).
We are instructed to pray for forgiveness (Matthew 6:12). We are also instructed if we want to receive forgiveness we have to be willing to forgive others (Matthew 6:14-15). God sets the example as well as Jesus Christ. God offers salvation today to those who are willing to repent of their sins and ask for forgiveness (Acts 2:37-38). God will also offer salvation to those who are resurrected as physical human beings at the great white throne judgement (Revelation 20:11-12). Everyone who has ever lived will have the opportunity to know God at one time or another according to His great plan.
It all starts with repentance and forgiveness of sins (Isaiah 1:16-18). “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians 1:7-8). This walk with God begins when out of His kindness He leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). What do we repent of? We repent of breaking His Law. We are instructed to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and we are told to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Mark 12:28-31). These are the two great commandments.
We all fall short. We cannot overcome any sin on our own. We need Christ living in us and we need God’s mercy to clean us up and become more like them with each passing day (Romans 8:37). Man is basically hostile towards God until he repents and his sins are forgiven (Romans 8:6-8). Once we repent and we become baptized we become a new creation and we become the sons of God (2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 8:13-17). Not only do we become sons of God we become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Now that is exciting news.
As you read this keep this in mind when you look at the people in God’s church. The church is not perfect. Christ who is the head of the church is perfect but the people He is working with are not. That’s why you may see people doing things that may not always make sense. Each individual God calls to Christ is a work in progress. God does not wave a magical wand that once you repent and your sins are forgiven, you automatically become perfect. Conversion is a life long process. That’s why forgiveness is a key element in how we do get along with one another in the church and in the world.
We are all trying to develop more of God’s character and it can be very challenging at times. God is creating in us His perfect character but being human we slip from time to time and we make mistakes. God does not wipe us out because we have sinned. He continues to work with each one of us as long as we continue to seek His forgiveness when we sin. Now if we deliberately sin against God and willfully refuse to follow Christ, we can possibly separate ourselves from God which is a dangerous position avoid (Hebrews 10:26).
God is willing to forgive anyone. God forgave David of adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11:4-17). Even though David committed a horrible crime, God was willing to forgive him, however God did not remove the penalty. David will rule over Israel as their King when Jesus Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom (Ezekiel 37:24). This does not mean a person can just go out and do whatever they want and expect to get away with the sin. David always had a heart that was willing to repent and ask for forgiveness (Psalm 51).
God is also willing to forgive a nation if the nation is willing to ask for forgiveness (Jonah 3:10). Jonah had preached to Nineveh and warned the king their God would destroy Nineveh if they didn’t seek forgiveness. The king called for the people to fast along with him and seek forgiveness. God chose to have compassion on them and their sins were forgiven. It could be God’s choice to forgive any nation today if they would truly repent.
Being like God means we have to be willing to show compassion and be willing to forgive. If someone hurts us we have to be willing to forgive (Matthew 18:21-22). If they hurt us more than once we still have to be willing to forgive. Of course part of the forgiveness process is being willing to sit down with the other person and discuss what is going on. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. We get upset at someone and we hold a grudge and carry around unnecessary anger because someone didn’t act the way we wanted them to act. God commands us to deal with that person and deal with them in a loving way, which means being willing to forgive (Matthew 18:15, Ephesians 4:26-27, Ephesians 4:32).
It’s not easy becoming like our Savior Jesus Christ. He requires it from us because of our great inheritance. All of mankind is going to be given an opportunity to know who God really is. He is working with a small number today and He will eventually work with all of mankind at another time. You can have that opportunity today and look to God and Jesus Christ for direction and guidance. There is much rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents and his sins are forgiven (Luke 15:7). This awesome God we call Father desires to have a relationship with you and is so willing to forgive you of any sin you may have committed. Forgiveness is one of many beautiful characteristics of our loving and compassionate Father and we have the honor of being His children. i
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