by Ed Ostrom

Created on: September 01, 2010

I praise God that He is in the forgiveness business.  Psalm 32:1 declares “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. “  1 John 1 “9 states “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  The Lord is the One who forgives.

There is absolutely no sin that is too horrible, or gross, or upsetting that the loving mercy of our God can not cover it and forgive it.  Other than blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, there is no sin that can not be taken by Jesus Christ and dealt with, Praise God He does forgive us if we confess our sin, repent of it and turn from it and allow Him to reign with us. It means that we must go through a conversion experience. We turn from our sin and turn to serving the Lord.   Taking these actions in our lives opens us up to the flow of the Holy Spirit and the life changing power of God in our daily lives.

“God forgives no matter what!” is a pith statement that is filled with warm, fuzzy feelings.  It is often treated as a Christian truism, and yet in the narrowest sense of the matter it is not true at all. It is true that God forgives sin. Praise God! It is true that He is in the forgiveness business. But to say that God forgives no matter what is not fully true. If we hold to that statement as truth it means that only God plays a part and it does not matter what we human beings do or don’t do.  To say that   “God forgives no matter what” denies the part we have to play in forgiveness.

The above quoted 1 John 1: 9 lays out the dualistic approach to forgiveness. There is a God ward part and there is a man ward part... “The first half of the verse pinpoints the part we humans have to play in the forgiveness of sins. It says “if we confess our sins”. Our part in finding forgiveness for our sins is the confession of our sins. To confess our sins means to own up to them. It is to admit to our sins. It takes openness and honesty and humility to admit we are sinners. Without this step there can be no forgiveness for our sins.

Secondly, we humans must not only confess our sins, but we must also repent of them and turn from them. . 2 Peter 3:9 declares “The Lord is not slack concerning His promises, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us no willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 

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