By David Murray

The most painful experience in life is being seriously and deliberately harmed by someone else.

Car crashes, even fatal ones, are accidents; no one sets out to deliberately injure or kill with their car. Cancer is also an impersonal attacker, an internal cellular malfunction.

But when someone willfully abuses us – verbally, physically, financially, emotionally – that feels altogether different. That pushes our pain levels off the scale and can feel worse than the most serious physical injuries or diseases.

It wasn't an accident, it wasn't a mistake, it wasn't a malfunction. Someone purposely decided to wrong and damage us. There's a personal choice, a human will, behind the pain.

That's searing agony.

Was that not the worst part of Christ's sufferings? Not so much the nails or the thorns, but the malice of the soldiers, the denial of Peter, the desertion of the disciples, the betrayal of Judas, and, above all, the felt abandonment by the Father.

Avoid or Attack

Our most common responses to being abused are either attack or avoid, retaliate or distance, both of which result in even greater damage to ourselves and others, including anger, bitterness, resentment, and even depression. But there is an alternative to taking vengeance or taking cover, and that's giving forgiveness.

Full forgiveness

The fullest and best kind of forgiveness is when our attacker or abuser confesses his sin, asks for forgiveness, and we are enabled to do so from the heart, just as God for Christ's sake did for us. This kind of reconciliation is one of the greatest joys for any Christian to experience. It is so liberating, so refreshing, so exquisite.

However, what if there is no confession, no repentance, no request for forgiveness? We've maybe tried to bring the offender to repentance and reconciliation, but without success. What then?

Are we doomed to carry around this burden for the rest of our lives? Do we just keep turning our back or looking for an opportunity to get our own back? Or do we just forgive anyway, regardless of whether the person wants any forgiveness?

Lesser forgiveness

The answer is not avoidance, nor attack, but neither is it unconditional forgiveness, giving full forgiveness where none is sought. There is a fourth option: maybe we can call it "lesser forgiveness."

Lesser forgiveness has two parts. First, there is a forgiving attitude, being ready to forgive, eager to forgive, even praying for the opportunity to forgive. It's about being forgiving without actually giving forgiveness.

Second, there is a giving of the matter over to God. It's saying, "I'm not going to carry this around any longer. I'm not going to attack or avoid, but neither can I reconcile. So I give it over to God, I let it loose from my heart, and I say, "The judge of all the earth will do right."

Giving up by giving over

There is a giving up of the hide-and-seek, a giving up of the search-and-destroy. There is a giving up of the matter to God. It's a letting go and letting God.

There is no pardoning and there is no reconciliation. But neither is there condoning, excusing, minimizing, or tolerating of the offense, which is what unconditional forgiveness results in.

Both of these kinds of forgiveness, full and lesser, are patterned after God's forgiveness and required by the prayer, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

And although this is not the full forgiveness that we crave to give, it is better than the alternatives, and better for us too.

Bitter or better?

Although psychologists lack the theological basis for offering true forgiveness to their clients, they recognize that forgiveness helps bitter people become better people. In The How of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky argues that whereas "preoccupation, hostility, and resentment that we harbor serve only to hurt us, both emotionally and physically" empirical research confirms that forgiving people are:

• Happier
• Healthier
• More agreeable
• More serene.
• Better able to empathize with others
• More spiritual or religious.
• More capable of reestablishing closeness in relationships

That's seven major benefits of forgiving, to which we can add the benefit of

• An improved relationship with God

as well (Matt. 6:12, 14-15).

Amazingly, Lyubomirsky's first strategy for practicing forgiveness is to appreciate being forgiven! It's a pity that it's taken scientists a couple of thousand years to discover that what Jesus was teaching all these years ago is true.

Horizontal and Vertical Motivation

Of course, "scientific" forgiveness is only on the horizontal plane. To motivate us, Lyubomirsky asks us to recall an instance of when we did wrong to someone and were forgiven. However, if such relatively minor offenses against such relatively minor people can help us to forgive, how much more being forgiven by a holy God for offenses not just against His law but against His love? As Jesus said, He who has been forgiven much, the same loves much.

by Katherine Russell

The First to Apologize is The Bravest.
The First to Forgive is the Strongest.
And the First to Forget is the Happiest...

Forgiving someone can be difficult. Why do we need to forgive others? How can we forgive a person? The Bible can provide us with answers, inspiration and direction.

Actually, forgiveness is not only about others, but also about our own spiritual growth. Love and forgiveness cannot be separated. If we choose to live out the love of God as the purpose of our life, then forgiving is an option that cannot be avoided.

#1 Because we are sinners we should forgive others

Matthew 6:14-15 NIV

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Colossians 3:13 NIV

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Ephesians 4:31-32 NIV

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

#2 Be ready to forgive over and over again

Matthew 18: 21-22 NIV

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? “Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

#3 To avoid making others be overwhelmed

2 Corinthians 2:5-8 NIV

If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.

#4 Love will lead to forgiving others

1 corinthians 13:4 - 6 NIV

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

#5 Priority when it comes to forgiving others

Matthew 5:23-24 NIV

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”

#6 Forgive others rather than judge others

Luke 6:37 NIV

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

John 8:7 NIV

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

#7 A remarkable example of forgiveness

Acts 7:59-60 NIV

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

#8 Jesus is our Model

Luke 23:33-34 NIV

When they came to a place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals – one on his right, the other on his left, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

#9 Jesus’ command to us

Luke 17:3-4 NIV

So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says , ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

#10 How to treat enemies

On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Romans 12:20 NIV

I believe that your life must will be blessed through forgiving others. Would you like to choose to forgive for the benefit of others? Maybe your decision can bring an opportunity of redemption for others.

by Mark Altrogge

We will all be criticized at one time or another. Sometimes justly, sometimes unjustly. Sometimes others' criticism of us is harsh and undeserved. Sometimes we may need it. How do we respond to criticism? I haven't always done well and I'm still learning, but here are a few things I try to think of when others criticize me.

Be quick to hear. (James 1:19)

This can be hard to do because our emotions rise up and our minds begin to think of ways to refute the other person. To be quick to hear means we really do try to listen to and consider what the other person is saying. We don't just write it off. Even if it seems unjust or undeserved.

Be slow to speak (James 1:19).

Don't interrupt or respond too quickly. Let them finish. If you speak too quickly you might speak rashly or in anger.

Be slow to become angry.

Why? Because James 1:19-20 says the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Anger won't make someone do the right thing. Remember, God is slow to anger, patient and long-suffering with those who offend him. How much more should we be.

Don't rail back.

"When (Jesus) was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:23). Talk about being unjustly accused – Jesus was, yet continued to trust the Lord and did not revile in return.

Give a gentle response.

"A soft answer turns away wrath" (Proverbs 15:1). Be gracious even to those who offend you, even as God is gracious to us when we offend him.

Don't defend yourself too quickly.

Defensiveness can rise out of pride and being unteachable.

Consider what might be true in the critique, even if it is given in a poor way.

Even if it is given with the intent to hurt or mock, there still might be something worth considering. God might be speaking to you through this person.

Remember the Cross.

Someone has said that people won't say anything about us that the Cross hasn't said and more, which is, we are sinners who deserve eternal punishment. So actually, anything anyone says about us is less than what the Cross has said about us. Turn to God who accepts you in Christ unconditionally despite your many sins and failures. We can be discouraged when we see areas of sin or failure, but Jesus has paid for those on the cross and God is pleased with us because of Christ.

Consider the fact that you have blind spots

We can't always see ourselves accurately. Maybe this person is seeing something you can't see about yourself.

Pray about the criticism

Ask God for wisdom – "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you" (Psalms 32:8).

Ask others for their opinion

Your critic could be right or completely off-the-wall. If this is an area of sin or weakness in your life, then others will have seen it too.

Consider the source.

Don't do this too quickly, but consider the other person's possible motives, their level of expertise or wisdom, etc. They may be criticizing you to hurt you or they may not know what they're talking about.

by Dr. Ray Pritchard

(Note: A few days ago I received a letter that took over a month to finally reach me. It came from someone I have never met. Because of the unusual nature of the letter, I began to think about the question, "What does forgiveness mean at Christmastime?"

This week's message is actually the letter I wrote to her. To protect her privacy, I have changed her name. I am passing it along because many people struggle with hard questions of forgiveness. In this case, "Sarah" waited too long to forgive. What do you do then?)

December 14, 2006

Dear Sarah,

Although you wrote me over a month ago, your letter did not reach me until a few days ago. Thank you for writing and sharing your story with me. It is quite unlike any other letter I have ever received. After I read it, I thought about it for a while because the question you raise is very challenging:

How can you let somebody know you still love them and forgive them, and you're sorry and live with it every day, when they've gone to be with the Lord?

I know from your letter that you are over 80 years old, and that your husband died eleven years ago. The two of you were married for 49 years. But there was an issue of forgiveness that stood between the two of you. This is how you put it:

There really wasn't anything to forgive, only a little white lie he told over 48 years ago.

And then you add: "We had a great marriage." I do not doubt you when you say, "I loved him dearly."

You didn't say what the white lie was, and after so many years, perhaps it doesn't really matter. Perhaps he did something foolish and then tried to cover it up. Or maybe he didn't tell the whole truth about something. But whatever it was, it must have really bothered you because as you said, "I didn't let it go." You made a very human mistake, one that all of us have made many times. You held on to whatever it was. Forty-eight years is a long time to hold on to a "little white lie."

But the hardest part, the saddest part, comes next:

He asked me to forgive him two weeks before he passed, and I wouldn't say the words. I grieve every day that I didn't forgive him. I would have but he passed suddenly.

Now your dear husband has gone to heaven to be with the Lord. And you are haunted by the memory, not of his "little white lie," but of your unforgiving spirit. As a result, you are still carrying the burden of what you wish you had done but didn't do. That brings me to your bottom line:

I know that at over 80, I could go any time. I just need to know the Lord will forgive me. And where to look in the Bible. This is urgent.

You are right on all counts. You could die at any moment. And you do need to know if the Lord will forgive you. And you need to know what the Bible says about this matter.

Finally, I note that you even enclosed a stamp so it would be easy for me to answer your letter. That touched my heart. I would have answered anyway, but I'm going to use your stamp when I send this letter back to you.

Self-Inflicted Wounds

Your letter illustrates a truth that is as old as mankind. Generally speaking, as we look back on life, our greatest remorse comes not from the things we did, but from the things we didn't do that we should have done. I have often thought that there is no pain greater than a self-inflicted wound. Others rarely hurt us as deeply as we hurt ourselves. And sometimes the pain comes, not from foolish things we did or said, but from a time when we could have shown kindness but didn't, when we could have shown mercy but were harsh instead, when we could have reached out to someone in need but turned and walked away. As we journey through life, all of us end up with a long list of things that we wish we had done differently. Often our deepest pain comes from knowing that we should have forgiven when we had the chance, but we didn't do it, we let things fester, we nursed our grudges, we hung on to remembered hurts, and we ended up the loser because the time comes when we can no longer say to someone we loved, "I forgive you. It's over. By God's grace, I have put it behind me. Let's move on from here together." I know you wish you had said that to your dear husband.

Your letter is like a modern-day version of the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-35. It's all about a man who had been forgiven an enormous debt being unwilling to forgive a small debt owed to him. The shock of the story is that he was so unforgiving after having received such mercy himself. The man ended up being thrown in jail until he paid all that he owed. Jesus applied the story to his disciples in verse 35: "So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." You have already experienced this at a very personal level.

Jesus told this story in order to impress us with several truths: First, the greatness of God's forgiveness. Second the enormity of our own sins. Third, the relative lightness of the sins of others against us. Fourth, the simplicity of forgiveness. Fifth, the danger of an unforgiving spirit.

You see, we are like the unforgiving servant. We stand before Almighty God with our sins piled up like a mountain. The mountain is so tall we can't get over it, so deep we can't get under it, so wide we can't go around it. That's every one of us. Our sins are like a $25 million dollar debt we could never pay in our lifetime or in a thousand lifetimes. We come as debtors to God, come with empty hands and say, "I cannot pay." And God who is rich in mercy says, "I forgive all your sins. My Son has paid the debt. You owe me nothing."

"With You There is Forgiveness"

The only hope you have of being set free from the guilt of not forgiving your husband is to turn away from yourself completely and look to the Lord Jesus Christ. You asked me if God will forgive you, and you asked where to look in the Bible. I want you to ponder these verses carefully:

"The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" (Exodus 34:6-7).

"If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness." (Psalm 130:3-4).

I love that phrase–"But with you there is forgiveness." God makes a habit of forgiving sin. He does not delight in punishing our sin. He looks for chances to forgive us because forgiveness is in his nature.

That's a huge insight because it touches how you see God.

He is eager to forgive.

He is ready to forgive.

He wants to forgive you.

"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7). Let this promise sink into your soul: "He will abundantly pardon." What a huge, amazing statement that is. God is in the pardoning business, and he pardons abundantly.

As you think about your husband asking for forgiveness just two weeks before he died, and how you couldn't say the words, I know you have replayed that a thousand times in your mind, and you have said, "If only I had another chance to tell him. I would forgive him. I would say the words." And I believe that you would. But now that so many years have passed, and your husband has gone to heaven, the devil whispers in your ear that you are not good enough to be forgiven, that your failure to forgive when you had a chance has turned the Lord against you forever. The only way to deal with Satan's accusations is go back to the character of God: "With you there is forgiveness."

Four Words for Forgiveness

There are four important words for forgiveness in the Bible–three Hebrew words and one Greek word. The first Hebrew word means "to cover"–like using a rug to cover the dirt on your floor. The second word means to lift and take away–which happens when you remove a stain from a carpet. The third word means to pardon or to wipe the record clean. The fourth word means to "let go" or to "send away" as when you release a prisoner from jail. When you put these words together, you get a graphic picture of forgiveness. God covers our sin, he removes the inner stain, he wipes our personal record clean, and then he releases us from the guilt so that we are set free.

If the Lord kept a record of sins, if he forever gazed on our sins, who could stand? No one. We'd all be doomed and damned. But that's the whole point of forgiveness. We cry from the depths of shame and guilt, and God says, "Good news. With me there is forgiveness." The Bible uses a number of images to describe how God deals with our sins:

• God blots out our sins as a thick cloud (Isaiah 44:22).
• God forgets our sins and remembers them no more (Jeremiah 31:34).
• God puts our sins behind his back (Isaiah 38:17).
• God buries our sins in the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).
• God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

When God forgives, he forgets our sins, he clears the record, he erases the tape so that when he pushes the button, nothing shows up on the big screen in heaven. Our sins are forgiven, forgotten, removed, buried, and blotted out. They can never condemn us again. Let that thought grip your soul, and you will never be the same. But how could it be this way? How could God forgive us? Why doesn't he look at our sins? Here's the answer: A long time ago God fixed his gaze on the cross of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are honest enough to admit that we are wicked and evil, a stream of mercy flows out from the cross of Christ and our sins are covered by his blood. We discover in one shining moment that with God there is forgiveness.

In the end it all goes back to God. It's not about you. And it's not about your husband who is with the Lord. And it's not even about your holding a grudge for so many years or your refusal to forgive him just before he died.

It's all about God. It's about who God is. It's about the kind of God we serve. It's about how God has revealed himself to us.

You have suffered long enough. Now it is time for you to be set free.

Born to Set Thy People Free

I have been thinking about your letter in light of the fact that Christmas is just a few days away. What does Christ's coming have to say to our desperate need for forgiveness? And the answer comes back loud and clear. It has everything to do with our forgiveness because if Christ had not come, we would all still be in our sins. In Isaiah 9 the prophet looked far into the future and saw a day when God would send a Deliverer to the world. You know these words, you've heard them since you were a child:

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6-7).

How wonderful those promises are. God will send a child into the world who will be meet our deepest needs (Wonderful Counselor) because he is the Mighty God who is the Father of Eternity and the source of all lasting peace. If you go back just a few verses, you find another promise about the coming of our Lord: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined" (Isaiah 9:2). That verse is just for you. You have been walking in deep darkness for many years, struggling with guilt because of an unforgiving spirit. Jesus came to bring a great light into your life. He came to dispel the darkness of guilt and replace with the light of joy and the radiance of his everlasting peace.

Do you remember what the angel said to Joseph? "Call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). The name Jesus means Savior. He came to save sinners. No one else need apply. And the great good news of Christmas is that Jesus came to set us free from our sins.

As I've been writing this letter, the words of a beloved Christmas carol have been ringing in my head:

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.

Does that not describe your own heart? Is that not what you want? Do you not long to be set free from the past and to be released from your guilt and finally to find rest in your soul? I am happy to tell you that you don't have to look anywhere else to find forgiveness. Jesus came two thousand years ago to set you free.

You know that Jesus loves you.
You know that he died for you.
You believe that with all your heart.

Run to the Cross

As I write these words, you aren't far from heaven. You have a lived a long life, but you won't live forever on this earth. So I say with all my heart,

Run to the cross. Run to the cross and lay hold of the Son of God and never let go.

I write this to you, not as to an unbeliever, but to you as a sister in Christ who has struggled with the deep pain of what you didn't do that you should have done. All of us who believe in Jesus need to run to the cross every day. We need to trust him completely every day for our forgiveness and our healing.

Before I finish, there is one suggestion I would like to make. I know that you wish you had told your husband that you forgave him for his "little white lie." But that day has come and gone. You cannot tell him directly. But there is something you could do that may help comfort your own heart. Sit down and write a letter to your husband and tell him how sorry you are that you didn't forgive him when you had the chance. Tell him that you have suffered with that thought every day since he suddenly left you for heaven. Pour out your heart as you write the letter. Then I suggest that you gather a few trusted Christian friends around you. Let them be people whom you know and love. Include your pastor in this group if it is possible. Let them be people who know the Lord and know his Word. Read the letter to your husband aloud to them. Have someone read the Scriptures on forgiveness that I quoted in this letter. And then ask them pray for you that you might be set free from the past once and for all. The letter cannot change the past, but it can help you express your own sorrow in the presence of godly friends who can then pray for you. That may help you experience a new degree of freedom in your own heart. Then take the letter and destroy it because once there is forgiveness, no record of sin remains. As for your husband, you can rest in the knowledge that he is with the Lord right now. You don't have to worry about letting him know anything. He is in God's hands and the Lord can tell him anything he needs to know. By God's grace you will see him again, the past will be gone forever, the guilt that has dogged your steps will be forgotten, and you and he will be in the presence of our Lord forever.

Rest in the promises of God. Do not punish yourself any longer. Believe what God has said and you will be set free.

God's Rescue Mission

One final Christmas thought. Jesus came because we made such a mess of things. God said, "I will not leave you alone. I will not let you destroy yourself, each other, and the world I have made. I love you too much to leave you alone." After we had trashed everything, God said, "I'm coming down there so you'll know once and for all how much I love you." We didn't pay any attention; it didn't even make sense to us. How could God visit us? But he did—and he came to the world in a very strange way. He entered a virgin's womb and came out as a baby, born in Bethlehem, a baby named Jesus, born to save us from our sins.

So he came as a baby, and when he grew up, we killed him. Murdered him. Hung him on a cross. That's the thanks we gave to God for visiting us. But we were wrong about everything. After we killed him, he came back from the dead—proving that he was right all along and we were really wrong—dead wrong about everything—and still God loved us and came from heaven to earth on the greatest rescue mission in history.

He came because we blew it so badly.
He came and we killed him.

He died and became our Savior.

No one but God could have done something like that. What a story! What a Christ! C.S. Lewis said, "The son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God." God has done it all. That's the good news of Christmas: God has done it all. God wrapped up his Son in swaddling clothes and said to the whole world, "This is my Christmas gift to you."

Christmas matters because truth matters. And the heart of the truth is that God did not leave us alone, but in our misery he came to visit us one dark night in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.

Christmas is all about who we are, and who God is, and how far God will go for us. And it is because Christ came that you and I can be forgiven even when we have a hard time forgiving ourselves.

Sarah, I thank you for writing, and I hope my words have been of some comfort to you.

God bless you this Christmas season.

Cordially,

by Steve Brown

Right now you may be feeling guilty about one thing or another: what you said to your spouse last night, those unrelenting thoughts, something you did years ago and regret, actual lying and cheating. What do you do with this guilt? Do you try to ignore it? Bury it? Would you like to know how to handle it for good, how to find true and lasting forgiveness?

Let me give you an important principle for believers: Definition is a prerequisite to recovery. In other words, if you can define a problem, you can usually deal with it. Vague anxiety without definition of its source will simply wipe you out. It's important to define the problem before you do anything else. Let's define forgiveness based on Hebrews 10:1-18. Is true forgiveness even possible?

The Requirement for Forgiveness

To receive forgiveness, we must be sanctified, set apart to God. A lot of people try to make Christian principles work before they become Christians. When Jesus spoke to his disciples, one provision always followed upon the heels of his counsel: You must be a disciple of Jesus in order to reap the benefits of discipleship.

When Jesus said, "My peace I give to you," "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you," "Though he die, yet shall he live" or "I am with you always," he was only talking to a certain kind of person. Those are not universal statements applicable to everyone; they are meant only for his everlasting family. So, a word of caution: Forgiveness is only for those who have gone to the only One who can forgive, Jesus Christ.

The Reality of Forgiveness

The forgiveness Christ offers is the real thing; it's not a mere shadow or a copy. Let me illustrate what I mean. If I am really thirsty, one of the most arresting pictures I can see is a picture of a glass of cold water. The picture may be beautiful, it may make me think or daydream about a glass of water, but it is not a real glass of cold water. No matter how nice or realistic the picture, it is just that, a picture. In the same way, Christ's forgiveness really makes you clean and free. You are forgiven. That is reality.

The Remedy Toward Forgiveness

Forgiveness doesn't come cheap; it never has and it never will. If I punch you in the nose and you decide to forgive me, that forgiveness costs something—a hurting, damaged nose. There's a sense in which all forgiveness is vicarious, substitutionary, one for another. Forgiveness always costs somebody something. In the case of the forgiveness offered by God, it cost him his Son. Christ took your place. His death means that you don't have to die. Remember the cost.

The Reliability of Forgiveness

"But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12). Forgiveness is a fact because the One in authority, even Jesus Christ, says it is a fact. No data, no situation, no tragedy, no governmental decree, no military effort…nothing can ever change it.

There was once a doctor in a mining town who had many patients who simply couldn't pay their bills. When they couldn't pay, the doctor wrote "Canceled" beside their debts in his books. Years later, when the physician died, his widow tried to collect on those debts by taking the past debtors to court. But the court replied, "If your husband said that their debt is canceled, it is canceled and can never be claimed again." Likewise, the King who rules has declared you "Forgiven." No one can change that fact.

The Reach of Forgiveness

The reach of forgiveness is vast, "once for all" (verse 10). Jesus forgave every sin you have ever committed, every sin you are committing, and every sin you will ever commit. How about that? Corrie ten Boom described it, "Jesus takes your sin, past, present and future, dumps it in the ocean and puts up a sign that reads ‘No Fishing.'" That is so true. Christ has given forgiveness as far into the future as our lives will reach. And he has given forgiveness into the past as far back as our lives have been lived. We really are free.

I know what you're thinking: Well, does that mean I can do anything I want and I'm already forgiven? Yes, that's what it means. In that case, I'm going out right now to really sin, since it's forgiven anyway. You may do that, but if you do, you haven't understood the motivation of love. I don't try to be obedient because he will zap me if I'm not. I try to be obedient because he loved me when I wasn't. I'm constrained by his love, not by his judgment.

The Reminder of Forgiveness

In Hebrews 10:17 God says, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."

There was a bishop who was a confessor for a nun. One day the nun told him that Christ had revealed himself to her in person. The bishop, understandably doubtful about her vision, said to her, "I have some instructions for you. The next time Christ appears to you, I want you to ask him about the sins of the archbishop." The nun said, "Of course."

So the next time, in a period of confession, the bishop said to the nun, "Well, did you ask Christ about the sins of the archbishop?" She said, "Yes, I did." He replied, "What did he say?" The nun answered, "He said, ‘I've forgotten.'"

The living sacrifice of Jesus Christ has not only wiped your slate clean…it has broken your slate into a million pieces across crossbeams. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). God has forgiven your sin on the cross. Christ's death reminds us.

You may be on a guilt trip. I want you to think for a moment about the most horrible sin you have ever committed. Think about that which if I revealed it to your friends and family, would make you want to crawl into a hole in the ground. It may be a sin you've hidden for years, the one thing that nobody knows and about which you're never going to tell anyone because you're so ashamed.

Now hold it, in all of its blackness, before the light of Christ. Remember God's Word in Hebrews 10. He says this to you: "You remember your forgiveness and I'll forget your sin. You are free!" That's real. That's secure. That's yours—forever.

Time to Draw Away

Read Psalm 103 & Ephesians 2:1-7

Although you know you're forgiven in Christ, you may still feel guilty. During those times, you may need a reminder of the forgiveness that's already yours in him. Write down and memorize Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Allow it to sink in deep…as deep as God's love for you. You really are free of your sin—past, present and future. Nothing is held against you anymore. Not one single sin.