You know that saying, “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is”? Our society is used to that. The discount only applies when used is the complex scenario between two short-range dates. The healthy snack is actually bad for you. That movie adaptation from a beloved book is a letdown. But that kind of programmed thinking is what can make believing the best news, the truth found in the Bible, so difficult to apply personally.
Scripture tells us that Jesus came to give us life to the fullest. A full life is one of freedom. Finding freedom, counter to our cultural training, comes from surrender and contentment verses control and the always present pressure of needing more.
Freedom begins when we understand forgiveness. We must first and foremost understand the depth of forgiveness we have in God through Jesus. The depth of offense we’ve committed against the Author of righteousness, purity, and holiness is complete and vile, but this same Author of love and forgiveness, hope, joy, and mercy forgives us completely, without speck or blemish to defile us in His eyes. We have total access to the Father through the precious blood of perfect Jesus.
Colossians 1:22-23 reads, “Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News…”
Once we understand the depth of the Father’s forgiveness which is fathoms upon fathoms deep, we can learn to forgive like He forgives. Sometimes learning to forgive others is easier than learning to forgive ourselves when we miss the mark of Jesus’ example, but God desperately wants us to stand in the assurance of our position in Christ and thus the Kingdom of heaven.
The biblical author Paul said, do we use grace as a license to continue sinning? He answered by saying absolutely not. Through the Father’s heart of forgiveness, a person hungry for God can beat his chest in agony over the things he’s done that break God’s heart, but because of grace and forgiveness, he can wipe his tears and rise again ready to honor God and serve in the next opportunity.
A sin forgiven is as far as the eastern horizon from the western horizon according to the Lord. God is not too good to be true. He might be too wise to fully understand, too powerful to grasp, too sweet to sense completely, but He’s not too good to be true. He is goodness and the Father of every good gift.
When we believe that Jesus’ blood paid our debt to grant us blameless and faultless access to the Father, always, despite our stubbornness or stupidity, we can live in a beautiful freedom that He intended all along. It’s not about the decision to accept Jesus’ gift of salvation once, but rather living each day, each decision in the joy and gratitude that we are a holy people and wholly loved.
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