'What am I forgiven for?'

Psalms 103:10 – He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

I am chosen. Wait you do not get it….*pause*…..I – AM - CHOSEN. The God of the universe wants me. He chose to bestow His grace on me! I do not deserve it. None of us deserve it. If I was suppose to write my sins out…..I would be a definite candidate for a sinner. We all are. You may say “I am not a sinner. I do good things”. I’ll save you the time… ‘have you ever had a bad thought of a person or want something that is not yours?’ You may think that is nothing…..but that is the standard….anything that is bad is sin. High standards? You need to understand that because God is good, anything less than good is not what a good God should condone right? I’m currently reading a book by Ray Comfort called “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” (got to love the title!). The writer blew me away with the way he brings an understanding to the problems we have in church today. The focus is on how the Law was not given for men to save themselves (like the pharisees) but as a measure of just how desperately we need God. “The Law:

1. shows us our guilt before God and stops us from justifying ourselves.

2. brings to us the knowledge of sin.

3. defines sin and the depth of our sin. The apostle Paul didn’t even know what sin was, until the Law told him! (Romans 7:7)

4. was designed for the very purpose of bringing men and women to Christ”. The Law shows us how far we are from being righteous without Christ, therefore leading us to Christ always. 

"Do we then make void the law through faith? 

Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law" (Romans 3:31)

If we did not have the Law, we would not be grateful for what Jesus did for us on that cross and how He overcame sin. The writer sums the chapter up by saying that churches should stop preaching man-centered or feel good sermons but preach the standard that God has set (yes, the Law) as a wake up call to just how much we need the grace and mercy of God. We link the Law to being bad cause the pharisees were the ‘bad guys’. But here is the thing, God used the Law to set the standard. If we did not know the standard (the Law or the right thing to do), there would be no boundaries. Boundaries keep us from drowning. 'God's moral laws are not abolished by the gospel of Christ. Rather, the whole plan of salvation, including Christ's obeying the Law for us and dying to pay the penalty for our breaking the law, shows that God's moral standards are eternally valid' (from NKJV study bible). Hell’s best kept secret is that the Law needs to be preached for people to understand true repentance. 

When God looks at me, He does not see my sins and iniquities. He sees the woman of God He has called me to be. The blood of Jesus covers a multitude of sin. My question to you is, “do you truly understand what you have been forgiven for?”. Look at the standard set and realise that you have been forgiven much (just take sometime to stop and think). It includes the little white lies, the bad thoughts, our self-centeredness, our laziness, our disobedience, etc. Jesus was sent as our role model and no matter what religion people are, they acknowledge the sinless and perfect nature of Christ. Christians are not perfect, we are forgiven and desperate for the power of our perfect God to work in us. That’s when you realise just how much our God loves us and how amazing His grace and mercy is. He has called us Children of God. Understand the Law, you’ll begin to understand a little of the huge price that was paid.