It's interesting to think about God forgiving our past, present and future sins. He knows everything that we will ever do wrong, and with one sweep of His hand, He has thrown all of it into the sea of forgetfulness. All of it is gone. Yes, all of it.
So, then, what is it exactly that we are doing when we come to Him and "ask His forgiveness" for a certain sin? If it's already gone, what is the point? How can you ask Him to take away what has already been taken away?
To me, I don't really think we are asking for "forgiveness" in the way we are accustomed to understanding it; rather we are asking for a restoration of fellowship, the closeness of intimacy, the touch of love on our hearts from His heart--all the things we lost when our sin separated us from who He is ... holy, majestic, pure, good, righteous. We are simply asking for restoration, for the cleanliness that comes from being close to God.
We are echoing Psalms 51:10-12 that has been made into a simple song. "Create in me a clean heart, oh God. And renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from you presence, oh God. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation, and renew a right spirit within me." Hmmmm ... interesting how forgiveness isn't mentioned in this song, but the qualities of closeness, intimacy, recovery and restoration are.
Just like in football, we have lost something and we want it recovered. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me [Jesus here], because He has anointed me ... to proclaim ... recovery (Luke 4:18) ... " One of Jesus' messages was that He came to give us what we desire most--relationship with God.
1 comment:
That's so good! I never thought about it, but you're right, we are already forgiven. And the restored intimacy is what we're after. What I'm still working on is what Mike talked about when he mentioned how quickly David moved on from his sin after he repented. I still beat myself up for mistakes I've made in the past, especially the ones I am currently experiencing the repercussions for.
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