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In Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness for all who seek after it. Sometimes, however, it can feel much harder to escape from a past mired by mistakes and failures. But God promises that His love and the work of Christ covers a multitude of sins.
Psalm 103:12 says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” I once was asked by a student I was mentoring how forgiving can God be. At that point I knew God’s forgiveness was limitless for those who put their hope in Jesus for their redemption, but I had never truly imagined just how forgiving He can be.
It all starts with an understanding that every living soul has offended and maligned God. Isaiah 53:6 says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.” We have all contributed to God’s perpetual headache of having to deal with our stubbornness. Isaiah describes us as sheep who keep running away from the shepherd and every single time that shepherd goes back out to look for the sheep.
Jesus is our shepherd and we are the stubborn sheep that keep running away from God, and just as the parable of the lost sheep tells us (Luke 15:1-7), Jesus goes out of His way to leave the ninety-nine to win back the one lost sheep.
How forgiving is God? He is so forgiving, that He makes the first move towards our forgiveness. Barely do we see that nowadays. Imagine a victim make the first move on someone who stole a million dollars from him by visiting the thief in jail and hiring a lawyer for the criminal, paying for His bail and replacing the criminal’s sentence with a big job offer with high pay. That’s what God has done for us.
God does not just forgive. He also redeems. Many times we forgive or are forgiven only to be left with a great dilemma. With Jesus it was never like that. He adds no trouble to our redemption and even blesses us – those who have mistreated and maligned His name. God is so forgiving that He forgave and redeemed a murderer like Moses, an adulterer like David, a traitor like Peter and a persecutor like Paul.
But behind all that forgiveness was a price paid. We are not forgiven in a flimsy manner, but because God is just, He had to see sin punished. So He sent His only Son Jesus Christ to be the sacrifice for our sins. We are immensely forgiven because Jesus paid the immense price for our redemption and forgiveness.
