Before I sat to write this post, I had just come from a time of prayer. One of the ways the Holy Spirit was helping me pray was teaching me to thank God for His thoughtfulness and faithfulness to me. My mind went back to what my life was before I came into the awareness of Him and how He found a way for me to know Him. Had it not been for the grace of God, I would not be where I am today.
As incredible as this grace and mercy is, we do not see the same sort of actions in our world today. When a person offends you, how often does the person go out of their way to make amends? Do you make amends when you have wronged someone? Let’s take it a step further. Unless you decide to be the bigger person, do you go and apologize when you are the one that has been wronged?
I am willing to bet that your answer is no. Here’s the reality. The Bible is full of stories of God’s relentless pursuit of man. We wronged God. Rather than us going to God to seek forgiveness for our sins, He came to us to offer forgiveness and make us new. In addition to this gift of grace, He gives us many good gifts like His Holy Spirit, Word, pastors, and godly friends to aid us on this journey of faith.
He has provided all we need for life and godliness.
Can we just pause for a moment and say, “Thank You, Jesus”?
Father, on behalf of all your children, especially those reading this, I want to say thank You for pursuing us. We do not and could never deserve this great mercy, but we are grateful. Help us live our daily lives in full surrender to You. Amen.
God gave His Son so that we could return to our rightful place as daughters of God. When we place our faith in Jesus, we are freed from the punishment and power of sin. However, the presence of sin is still active. We know that there is still a lot of work to be done in our lives to fight against the temptations and consequences of sin.
It will take the rest of our lives to battle against sin. My friend, the presence and temptation of sin is active, but the gift of God’s grace, mercy, and help is even more vast and more deep.
There is nothing He cannot wipe away and make new.
When we fall short of meeting God’s standards found in His Word, we are not left without help. God is more interested in you living rightly than you are. How do I know that? You are His. You have His breath of life in you. You are His child. You bear His name. He is more interested and invested in you and your righteousness than you are. He will not leave you to figure out this life on your own. He loves you. You are His! Let that sink in!
His help, His way of reaching out to us is found in our SOAP verse today:
But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)
When we are convicted of our sin, we need to fight against the guilt that may make us run away from God and go deeper and deeper in sin. Rather, when we are convicted, we should go to God in repentance for what we have done, like children that come with their puppy-eyes filled with so much remorse, and we confess what we have done.
Then, Scripture gives us the blessed assurance for our soul that He is ever faithful, true to His word, and just. He will forgive us and cleanse us from the dirt that the sin has caused deep within us. God is good!
My dear friend, do not allow sin to drive you away from God. Do not listen to the voice of the accuser telling you that you are far too gone! No! Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit asking you to come! Come Home!
God bless you.
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Join us as we study God’s Word using the Lent study!
Grab your journal today and dive in!
