Good News: Forgiveness
**Can we be angry without sinning?: http://thelife.com/study/angrywithoutsinning.htmll?section=angrywithoutsin
by Suzanne Benner
“We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus” (Acts 13:32).
God promised to send the Messiah, the Deliverer. That promise was fulfilled in Jesus.
“Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38, 39).
For whom is this forgiveness? For everyone who believes!
It’s easy to understand why it’s called “good news,” when we discover the content of the message.
What could be better news than forgiveness? To realize that by believing in Jesus, we are justified before God?
When we honestly examine our hearts, we recognize the truth that we will never be justified by following the rules – sooner or later we inevitably mess up. We need forgiveness.
Accepting the pardon that Jesus provides means:
The shameful deeds of the past no longer determine our future.
Bitterness, envy, fear and pride no longer hold us prisoner.
Unintentional mistakes, as well as willful rebellion are no longer held against us.
We are forgiven. Free from blame or guilt. Made righteous before God. This is the good news which we believe.
~Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the good news of forgiveness. Show me how to live the truth of forgiveness and to share it with everyone around me.
Questions to ponder: How has God’s forgiveness changed your life? How can knowing God has forgiven you help you to forgive others?
About the Author
This devotional was written by Suzanne Benner. Read more about Suzanne: http://www.talk.thelife.com/authors/suzanne-benner/
For Dianne
We will always “fall short of HIS Glory”..But, once we’ve truly received Him and HIs Holy Spirit, we can’t continue in willful sins… His beautiful Holy Spirit is grieved when we do! Of course, we humans do have strong wills..But HIS spiritual balance system with the Holy Spirit helps us the rest of our earthen days! Our peace goes until spiritual order restored! And HIS beautiful peace worth more than any temporary earthen and human fall.. We may not consciously have chosen to sin.. but when our human nature tries to overtake, His Holy Spirit is there to restore peace and steer us back on course! Of course, we’ll never be perfect until point of death when we join Him in Glory! It is a constant renewal and “perfecting” system after we receive HIM..And? We become aware of our sins! After that? We’ll always have our “wills”, of course..But “rebellion” becomes much harder for us. We can’t relish in it! And, HE will remind us when we need improvement! And, we won’t be happy until we get it right with Him, too! At least, that’s been my personal experience and HE immediately lets me know when my course is off! Thank YOU for that, dear Father.
Barbara had some good thoughts. We only punish ourselves if we willfully and truly rebel and continue in known sin..It separates us from His great Peace which He can’t give us when we choose to remain apart and serious consequences will follow .. the whole key is our repentence. If we’ve truly received HIM, it’s impossible to continue grieving HIM! Our wills will always be a struggle for us..But we don’t have to choose continued rebellion and its serious consequences. But, as we recognize our sins and plead His forgiveness? He will daily transform us.. HE is also so very loving and forgiving and goes farther than any human in forgiving us..Sooooo grateful for that! And? As we recognize our need for forgiveness, we become quicker to forgive others and more understanding, too!
The Beautiful Lord’s Prayer says it all “…Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one ..For THINE is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory Forever and Ever, Amen”! Thank you for that, Lord!! Help us, daily, to be more and more like YOU so we “can” join you in Glory! And, thank you for your agape love and forgiveness that gives us more opportunities for forgiveness than our human minds can even comprehend.. And for loving us so much, you correct us! Amen and Amen.
Dear Dianne,
That is a great question and i can only explain through my own trials and tribulations that once we accept the Lord as our saviour we are saved from death and will go to heaven. However, if we continue to sin then we will have consequences to pay during this lifetime on earth. God disaplines those that he has choosen and love and when we sin he lets us know it if we are truly followers in Christ.
Whenever I know of sin that is in my life, I feel so distrubed and I also know that I am then cut off from the Lord and the consequences of my poor actoins become worse for I should now better. God will be patient with all of us for only so long. When we first accept Christ, we are nearly spiritual infants and he is so kind and understanding through this period. However, as we become more matured christians then more is expected of us. Like you said we are to take of the old and put on the new. If we do not obey God and his words it is only in time that such rebellion will in fact catch up to us during our journey here on earth. If one continues to dwell and live in sin then that person truly has not been set free to live life according to the way God so desires.
Hope this was a bit helpful. I would love to hear what others have to say as well. For I need all of the training i can get before setting out for battle against the enemy.
Barbara
If “willful rebellion” is sin, how can “willful rebellion” not be held against us. We are supposedly saved “from sin” not “in sin” and therefore if someone chooses to willfully rebel and do things they know are wrong – please explain to me how that will not be held against them. We are to be transformed – changed from our old sinful ways – putting on the new while putting off the old.
I used to have great difficulty with the concept of authentic forgiveness, and then I began to carefully examine what it means for a Christian to really forgive placing the burden of the offense in Jesus’ hands. I began to seriously pray for new eyes to see those who had hurt me in the past that forever altered my life. I find that whenever I try to forgive another in my own strength, I am not able to let the offense go in my heart and resentment and anger builds up from deep within. Biblical forgiveness is saying, I choose to look at the offense through the mind of Christ, despising the sin but having compassion upon the offender dealing with the hurt and pain the offender caused in the proper light of scripture. We are all sinners and like sheep have ALL gone astray, but Jesus tenderly pulls us back into the fellowship of His fold as we are convicted of sin and repent of it. Understanding the mind of Christ and accepting the price He paid for ALL sin for ALL time to those who accept Him in true repentance is what makes us able to forgiven those who have trespassed against us (and mean it with all our heart).
I find myself so many times saying that I have forgiven someone, but somehow I still feel anger and resentment. This helps me realize that in order to be more like Christ(our ultimate goal), we need to sincerely forgive and mean it.
Without knowing about God’s forgivness of my sins, I would not be making any progress in my journey through life. Being brought up in one of the most dysfunctionalest families that ever existed here on earth was not an easy thing to endure. Years and Years and Years of toruture, anger, rage, etc. was so common and I never was able to love anyone becuase of how much I HATED my life. However, Once I began to understand God’s Love and forgivness torwards me no matter how bad i might had been I have been able to forgive all those whom had offended me. The hardset part of it all has been learning to forgive my own self.
We must realize though our true position in Christ and that is for us to not go ahead and just keep sinning know that we will be forgiven. For once we did not know any better but once we begin to learn the truth of God’s words then the consequences that we as beleivers in christ will be greater than those whom do not know better.
Sin is Sin, wether we think it, say it or act on it. We all need to continuously be on gaurd watching over such things that might hinder our daily walk with God so that he can work more effectivley in our lives. Thank God that he gives us so much undecerving forgivenss but we all should be striving for the mark in life that requires us to have less and less of such forgiveness. For then we know we are growing more and more like him.
Barbara
Thank YOU, Lord Jesus, for your Precious Blood shed, that covers and atones for all our human sins…How can we “not” forgive others when you’ve forgiven us so much?! Thank you and we Praise you..that each and every day can be a Lamentations 3:23-24 day for us..and one whisper of asking forgiveness across our lips..starts our days afresh and anew. Thank you the lightness we can feel today because of your phenomenol agape love and forgiveness towards us…Nothing separates us from your love (Romans 8:37-39 and, that you DO forgive “willful rebellion” each and every day (I’d be in trouble, otherwise!!)..You love us soooo much that you wait patiently on us..Am so grateful for that ..you never gave up or give up on us..Help us to do that with others! Am humble before your throneroom this morning realizing the tremendous price you’ve paid for me and others..Help us forgive ourselves, first and foremost, that we can forgive others!!! Grow us up today in you, Dear Lord… Let us never be content in our comfort zones so we can grow and grow some more..Love you so much, Dear Lord!
“My God is so big so strong and so mighty there is nothing my God can not do”
and that includes forgive each and everyone of us. It is also important to know that God gives us the grace to forgive others. I have posted on this pages many times about the times I have forgiven. It is the only way to move forward.
No matter how hard the situation, it is only way. Who am I not to forgive another human who has done me wrong when our heavenly father forgives me all my wrongs.
Thank You so much. God knows exactly what we need!!! I just said a prayer a couple of minutes before reading this devotional. Asking for forgiveness from God, all the times I have strayed. I do not want him to be ashamed of me, of all the promises I have made and have never kept. Thank you!