Forgiveness for All Things
When you're in the newspaper business, you get used to the idea that your mistakes are on display for everyone to see. As I used to say, "When I mess up at my job, everybody knows about it. There's no hiding it."
That was evident on the day I wrote a story about the new marching band director in town. I gave the entire bottom section of the sports section to the story about this new director and the impact the band was having on the basketball atmosphere. I thought it was a pretty good piece.
Two problems. One, I misspelled his name throughout the article. Two, I left an "L" out of the word public, when talking about how long he had taught in public school. Needless to say, I was embarrassed. My co-workers loved every minute of it. From them on, I never missed the word public in a story. My co-workers also laughed frequently about "pubic" school.
As bad as that was, I got over it. We re-ran the story, with everything correct. No harm, no foul. Just a bruised ego and some embarrassment.
Mine was a simple mistake. What about when sin becomes public knowledge? What if everyone knows exactly what you did wrong? Worse yet, how can Christ forgive a sin we deem "unforgivable?"
David faced those questions after being called out for his affair with Bathsheba. Not only did he commit adultery, he also murdered a man by using a conspiracy and tried to cover it up.
Out of that sin and conviction, David wrote Psalm 51. He longs for God to forgive him and begs God not to leave his presence.
It's amazing to know that no sin is unforgivable. Only denying Christ can separate you from eternity from Jesus. No matter what you've done or how bad it is, God can forgive it through the blood of Jesus Christ. Even if everyone knows your shame, God still seeks redemption.
We may face consequences (and David did), but we still can be forgiven. What's the catch? Simply this: We must be broken over our sin enough that we seek forgiveness from Christ. Jesus wants to forgive, but we must repent (which means stop doing what we're doing) and ask him to forgive us.
In other words, we have to want forgiveness more than we want to "get away" with what we've done.
Are you broken for your sin? Are you contrite? What area of your life if Jesus gently prodding? Seek his forgiveness. Repent and turn away. Don't let that sin drag you down. The truth is: It doesn't have to.
That was evident on the day I wrote a story about the new marching band director in town. I gave the entire bottom section of the sports section to the story about this new director and the impact the band was having on the basketball atmosphere. I thought it was a pretty good piece.
Two problems. One, I misspelled his name throughout the article. Two, I left an "L" out of the word public, when talking about how long he had taught in public school. Needless to say, I was embarrassed. My co-workers loved every minute of it. From them on, I never missed the word public in a story. My co-workers also laughed frequently about "pubic" school.
As bad as that was, I got over it. We re-ran the story, with everything correct. No harm, no foul. Just a bruised ego and some embarrassment.
Mine was a simple mistake. What about when sin becomes public knowledge? What if everyone knows exactly what you did wrong? Worse yet, how can Christ forgive a sin we deem "unforgivable?"
David faced those questions after being called out for his affair with Bathsheba. Not only did he commit adultery, he also murdered a man by using a conspiracy and tried to cover it up.
Out of that sin and conviction, David wrote Psalm 51. He longs for God to forgive him and begs God not to leave his presence.
It's amazing to know that no sin is unforgivable. Only denying Christ can separate you from eternity from Jesus. No matter what you've done or how bad it is, God can forgive it through the blood of Jesus Christ. Even if everyone knows your shame, God still seeks redemption.
We may face consequences (and David did), but we still can be forgiven. What's the catch? Simply this: We must be broken over our sin enough that we seek forgiveness from Christ. Jesus wants to forgive, but we must repent (which means stop doing what we're doing) and ask him to forgive us.
In other words, we have to want forgiveness more than we want to "get away" with what we've done.
Are you broken for your sin? Are you contrite? What area of your life if Jesus gently prodding? Seek his forgiveness. Repent and turn away. Don't let that sin drag you down. The truth is: It doesn't have to.
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