I have a friend (we'll call him John) who is constantly deciding to start all over. Do you know what I mean? He decides to do everything for Christ, then after a little while, he back-slides. Soon after, he will ask everyone to forgive him and then start the whole process over. It's like he can't stay on the right path long before something comes along and derails him. Gosh, how many times will I continue to fall for his "I'm sorry, please forgive me" line? How many "just one more chances" do I give him? The fact is, as a human, I may number those "one more chances" that I allow him, and one of these times, it will be just too late; I will give up. I can't keep going through this time and time again. Do you blame me?
Our Jesus goes through this "on again, off again" process with every single one of us to some degree or another. We may not be able to forgive others 100 times, but Jesus sure does. Thank God for that! So if you are like John, and I think we all probably are, then rest assured that Jesus forgives us EVERY SINGLE time we ask Him. Don't worry if other people won't keep forgiving you; that is their problem. God does! And to show our appreciation for that, we should really work on forgiving others...no matter how many times they ask.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:14, "If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you."
Father, forgive me of all my sins. Thank-you for being a gracious God. Please help me to forgive all others. In Jesus name, Amen.
God wants us to be like Him ... but you're right, after a while we sorta sometimes get the feeling that "again? really?" ... when we need to sit down and ask ourselves the simple question "What if God didn't forgive me when I asked? What then?" Thank Him that we don't have to ask that question, because He does. Every time. And THAT is the beauty of the power of our God. Thank God. Amen! Good to see your post :)
ReplyDelete