Hosanna Restoration Church

Forgive us, is a lot different than, forgive me! Of course, everyone needs forgiveness, but how often do we need forgiveness? How specific do we need to be? Yes, Jesus knows everything; but if we feel the urge to work around the subject, or minimize our own sinfulness, we are missing the target completely.

If we have read the Bible, we know that if we know what is right and we fail to do it, it is sin. The need to be forgiven has been on my mind. Oh, the joy of one whose sins are forgiven. I know I rejoiced when I finally met Jesus and received the forgiveness He offered. At that time, there were too many sins to try and name. Forty-two years later I still thank the Lord. He has forgotten all of those sins, but I still thank Him for forgiving me.

You see, I don’t want to take forgiveness for granted. I want to know when I sin, not suspect that I may have. It is easy to say, “I am sorry Lord.”  “Please forgive me Lord,” is different. We don’t mind making a mistake, but we hate to call it sin.

If I am bitter, it is a sin. If I will not forgive, that is a sin. Yes, we have all sinned. If we say we have not we lie and we do not know the truth.

I am not trying to promote sin consciousness. I am simply reminding us to be conscious of the fact that we sin and remember to seek forgiveness. Godly sorrow leads to repentance and forgiveness. There is no sin that is not a big deal! It is even a bigger deal that there is no sin that God will not forgive, because Jesus died for them all. Holy Spirit dwells in us to remind us that forgiveness is available and lead us in paths of righteousness.

We all want to walk in the righteousness of God, don’t we? We all want to please God. We all want to know the joy of the Lord. We do not want to hold on to or hide our sins. On the other hand, we do not want everyone to know our sins. Sadly, others might recognize our sins before we do.

We know that God knows. We should also know that all He requires is for us to acknowledge that we know. I would rather ask the Lord’s forgiveness for a hundred things that seem like no big deal, than to decide one thing was not a big enough deal and have that thing blocking my relationship with God.

I believe that it also gives the Lord joy, when we take the forgiveness that He paid such a price for. Yesterday, we joined in with the thousands of people in Washington DC and the multitudes around the world in a communion service. In the process, it was pointed out that we are forgiven as we forgive. Live in the forgiveness that Jesus died to give us. Ask and you will receive.