How Do We Know Our Sins are Forgiven?

The answer to this question was in my daily devotional reading today.  The quote is from the writings of J.F. Clark (1810-1888), an American theologian and writer.

“We need to know that our sins are forgiven.  And how shall we know this?  By feeling that we have peace with God,–by feeling that we are able so to trust in the divine compassion and infinite tenderness of  our Father, as to arise and go to Him, whenever we have sinned and say at once to Him,  ‘Father, I have sinned, forgive me.’  To know that we are forgiven, it is only necessary to look at our Father’s love till it sinks into our heart, to open our soul to Him till He shall pour His love into it;  to wait on Him till we find peace, till our conscience no longer torments us, till we can feel that our sins, great as they are, cannot keep us away from our Heavenly Father.”

P.S. Lutherans also know they are forgiven when they receive the absolution every week as part of the liturgy.  What a blessing! As Martin Luther said about the Gospel– We need to hear it every week because we forget it every week.

More on Psalm 51

Many hymn writers have picked up on the themes expressed in Psalm 51.   One of those was James L. Nicholson, a native of Ireland. He came to America around the age of 25 and lived in Philadelphia for almost two decades. Around 1871 he moved to Washington DC and worked there as a clerk in the Post Office Department.  He wrote the hymn “Whiter than Snow.”  Listen and remember that God is the only one who can not only forgive our sins, but completely erase them through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus.

Against You Only

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.

These verses are taken from Psalm 51.  The inscription attached to this Psalm tells us that it is a Psalm of David, written after the prophet Nathan confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba.  David knew he had done things that were very wrong.  He had sinned against Bathsheba by leading her into adultery;  he had betrayed the trust of her husband and then had him killed;  he had disgraced his people by abusing his power as King and setting a poor example for others.  He tried to get away with his sin, and he thought he had, but he was wrong. God knew, and ultimately the sin was about his disobedience to God.  That’s what stands out for me in this Psalm.

We can hide our sins from others and sometimes we even hide them from ourselves.  We ignore them, cover them up or deny them.  We tell ourselves that in the great scheme of things, our sins are petty and not worth worrying about.  This is what a Pastor I knew once called “stinkin’ thinkin’.”  ALL sins affect our relationship with God, and we need to repent and make things right with the people we have injured and with Him.  Whenever we sin, we sin against God.

Fortunately for David, and for us, God is forgiving.  1 John 1:9 tell us:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

In order to lead a life of repentance, we must first, like David, recognize our sin– we must repent daily.  Then God is His lovingkindness will restore us.  He forgave David, and He will forgive you and me.

I’m a Hypocrite

Yeah, I came to this realization a few days ago.  Over the past several months I have been assaulted with negativity in the political arena, social issue arena and just about ANY arena you can think of.  I do okay with it for a while, but then it happened.  I allowed my human nature to transcend my spiritual nature by responding hatefully to a post on Facebook.    The worse part of this whole situation is – I was pretty proud of myself.

As a Christian, I believe that it is important to stand by my biblical beliefs, but as a Christian I should do that without being nasty – I should react out of love.  I failed in that terribly.  It took several days to come to this realization and several more to get the courage up to admit this terrible failing.  I am fortunate though, because, God still loves me.

I should state here and now, I will probably fail again – not probably but WILL – but remember to remind me that I am to act out of love and not condemnation. I may not agree with your stand on certain issues but I can allow you to have them without negativity from me, please afford me the same courtesy.

 

No matter how much of a total butthead I am being – Always remember

 

God Loves You And So Do I

 

Michele

A Poem on Forgiveness

Here is my John Donne poem for the month:

A Hymn to God the Father

By John Donne

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,

         Which was my sin, though it were done before?

Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,

         And do run still, though still I do deplore?

                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

                        For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won

         Others to sin, and made my sin their door?

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun

         A year or two, but wallow’d in, a score?

                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

                        For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun

         My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;

But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son

         Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;

                And, having done that, thou hast done;

                        I fear no more.

Like an Elephant

“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12

Did you ever hear the old saying, “an elephant never forgets?”  Well my grandmother had a version of that.  She used to say, “I can forgive, but I can never forget.”  Most of us are like that, it’s human.  When someone injures us, even after forgiving them, even if we go on with our relationship, a scar is there.  We’re like elephants.  We don’t forget.  We don’t trust them the way we did before.  Maybe we don’t respect them quite as much.  The hurt lingers and gets between us.

The amazing thing about God is, his forgiveness is absolute.  He does forget our sins.   Not only that, He removes them from us.

“as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” Psalm 103:11-12

Because of Christ’s sacrifice for us, our sins are completely erased.  We have a clean slate.  There are no barriers left between us and God. This is true now, not something to simply look forward to in eternity. Paul tells us,

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. “Romans 3:21-25

In God’s eyes, we Christians “put on” Christ and His righteousness becomes ours.  What a fantastic gift! Aren’t you glad God’s forgiveness isn’t like an elephant’s, or my grandmother’s, or yours and mine?  Don’t you want to pass His forgiveness on?