"If we confess our sins, He (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1John 1:9 ---- "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Matthew 6:12
Forgiveness is a major theme in living the Christian life. I want to consider two aspects of forgiveness that are involved in living the Christian life. First, if you are a Christian you have been forgiven by Jesus Christ. The Christian life begins when we ask Jesus to forgive us for our sins. John assures us that when we have asked Him to forgive us, Jesus is "faithful and just to "forgive us our sins." This is actually the good news of the gospel. It is because of Jesus' forgiveness that we become Christians and become His saved followers. The first words of Jesus from the cross were "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." If you sincerely asked Jesus to forgive you, the promise of the Bible is that He has forgiven you. Believe it! Accept it! Live it! Jesus' forgiveness does not end with the salvation experience. His forgiveness is offered to us on a daily basis. Many times we are depressed because we have failed in some way in our Christian lives. The Lord who saves us is the Lord who will forgive us. You can be sure that Lord will discipline us when we stray, but this does not put us beyond His forgiveness. The promise given in 1John 1:9 is that when we confess our sins, He is "faithful and just to forgive us." He will forgive you if you sincerely confess, repent and ask for His forgiveness. There is another aspect of forgiveness that we need to consider. As we have been forgiven, we should also forgive. In the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:12, Jesus instructed us to pray: "Forgive us debts, as we forgive our debtors." It is understood that Christians will be forgiving people. When someone hurts us in some way we should forgive them. After all, this is what Jesus did from His cross. We who have been forgiven should also be forgiving. I know that this is not always easy, but I also know that an unforgiving spirit can rob us of the victory that we have in Jesus. Whoever it is that you need to forgive, you will be a more effective witness if you will forgive. Ask the Lord to give you a forgiving heart. Forgiving others will give you a spirit of victory in your Christian life. God expects His people to have forgiving hearts. Whoever it is that you need to forgive, forgive them and claim the victory in Jesus. This is a difficult subject to cover in a short article, but I think that I have covered enough to let you understand that as you have been forgiven, you also need to forgive. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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