Honor God Through Forgiveness

Colossians 3:13-14 (The Message) So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Honoring God is at the core of forgiveness because of what Jesus did at Calvary. I would typically write about forgiveness of others. Yet I pose the question; why does God continue to forgive our sins? We understand that He forgave us the first time because of His great love and our great need, but why should He continue year after year while we continue to disobey? Why doesn’t He just give up on us?

It may surprise you to learn that the Lord forgives our sins for Himself. We might think that forgiveness centers on us, but the truth is that it centers on Him. Listen to what He told Isaiah: Isaiah 43:25 ( NKJV ) “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.

He does it for His own sake. He is holy and will not tolerate the presence of sin. He loves us and wants us to be reconciled to Himself but in order for us to be in His presence, we have to be clean.

Not only does He wash away our sins at the time of salvation, but He continues to wash away our sins through sanctification for the rest of our earthly existence. He keeps us clean because He wants us clean.

Lamentations 3:22-24 ( NKJV ) Through the Lords mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” In other words, our salvation depends on His continuing grace. You see, we can never be independent from the Lord again. We need His continuing work in our lives in every way. Honor God for His cleansing grace. Yes, there may be consequences for your sins in this life, but you can truly rest assured that there is no sin on your account with God. John wrote it so beautifully: (1 John 2:1 NKJV) My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Don’t sin. It isn’t worth it. It never does what you hope it will do. It always brings negative consequences. But if you do sin, turn back to Jesus and find the full and free forgiveness He always has for you. That’s grace, worthy of honor for the forgiveness of our sin.

Pastor Greg Volich