When God Forgave You
Ephesians 2:4,5 But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.)
Maybe I’m just spiritually thick, but even though I get the fact that God forgave me out of His grace, out of His pure, unmerited favour towards me … man, I find it so difficult sometimes to show that same grace to others. How about you? Or is it just me?
If you were to look back over just the last few days, I’m sure you could point to at least one or two incidents where someone’s rubbed you the wrong way. And you know how it is … we want to react and gossip and complain. And above all, we want justice … which in our minds looks a lot like revenge!
In fact, you can carry that grumbling, complaining and longing for revenge around in your hearts weeks, years … even a lifetime.
But then … then you look at Jesus hanging there on that cross. Okay, it was two thousand years ago. And yes, He died for everyone who’d put their trust in Him. But He also died … let’s be perfectly clear about this … for you and for me.
He paid the price of the punishment that God’s justice demands of us, so that you and I could be forgiven and have eternal life. We deserve that punishment …
Ephesians 2:4,5 But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.)
And somehow, when you gaze upon that cross, God breathes an eternal perspective into your heart – a love so great that He would die for you.
Doesn’t that make those petty things that happened along the way pale into insignificance? Doesn’t the unforgiveness in your heart just kind of stink in the light of the cross?
You have been saved by God’s grace.
That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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