“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”
Romans 3:23-24 NLT
We often as Christians have hard time believing that our Father is not only capable but willing to forgive us of our sins. But the simple truth is that Jesus paid the price for our sin and freely makes us right by his sacrifice. There was a penalty for sin but by the precious blood Christ shed, that penalty has been removed. Though we have fallen short of God’s standard, he extends his grace to us to “make us right in his sight”.
But often we have a real problem accepting forgiveness from God because we cannot forgive ourselves. We have fallen, sinned and we are brought down by our lack of righteous living. Often this might be an issue we have had before which stings even more. How can a holy Father forgive us when we are such a mess? Grace people is the answer, unmerited favor given by a loving God!
Our Father has freed us from the penalty of sin, we just need to accept such grace ourselves. If God who knows all, sees all and is a Holy God, forgives us, who are we to cling to such baggage in our lives. We need to ask the Father once for forgiveness, but we may have to remind ourselves that we need to forgive ourselves as well. There is nothing beyond the reach or love of our God, including our sin, let it go!
In Christ
RJ