Hi everyone! Today I want to share some thoughts about forgiveness. The very foundation of my faith in Jesus is the belief that when I accepted Jesus for the first time and repented of all my wrongs; he forgave me, made me new, and helped me start over. That first “repentance session” was done with the understanding that moving forward, I can confess any sin that I do, and I will be forgiven because I am in Christ now. “But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done” (1John 1:9 ERV).  I have believed this truth since day one, but I will admit, that I have had a hard time “feeling” clean from all the wrong things I have done. I think that’s why God constantly reminds me “Don’t live based on your feelings; live based on the Word of God.”  Because if I truly live out his Word, I have to decide to stop being mad at myself for the sins I have committed and repented of, and forgive myself, like God did as soon as I repented. He not only forgives us, he also takes away the sin from us. “And he has taken our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12 ERV).  I love my church home and church family, and one of the things my pastor says that I  really love is that Jesus already paid for our sins and we do not have to pay for them. We don’t have to punish ourselves for them or live in the guilt and shame of them. Sometimes on my drive to work,  I catch the sermon that’s broadcasts on the radio from the Russellville Christian Center, and there is one thing I heard one day that was so powerful for me: all of our sins, past and present, are on the cross of Jesus. He took them on and paid the price for them so that we do not have to carry them around after we have repented and been forgiven for them. God doesn’t want us to carry around and dwell on what he has forgiven and forgotten: “I, I am the one who wipes all your sins. I do this to please myself. I will not remember your sins” Isaiah 43:25 ERV. What a great promise from God! 

Songs that remind me: “Flawless” by Mercy Me; “East to West” by Casting Crowns’ and “Forgiveness” by Matthew West.