March 5, 2021: Forgiven
“He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. … As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:10, 12, NKJV).
God always gives us what we need, not what we deserve. Instead of giving us the punishment we deserve, Jesus Christ has paid for all our sins and all our wrongs. I love what the Bible says about East and West because there is no end to East or West. There is a North Pole and a South Pole, but there is no end from East to West.
When I consider my past sins, I tremble at the thought of what God “might” have justly done to me. When I think of the sufferings He “might” have brought upon me, which would have been no more than I deserved—what pain of body, distress of mind, anguish of bereavement, sorrow, danger, sickness, losses—I “might” have suffered before the point would be reached at which it could be said that I had suffered more than a holy and just God might properly inflict on me.
I can truly say, even when I’ve blown it big time, that He has not “dealt with me” after my sins. He has never apportioned my punishment to my sins, nor has He regulated the exercise of His mercy by my merits.
Let me make this very clear: God forgives you not because you’re good, but because He is good.
Gracious God, thank You for not giving me what I deserved. Thank You for loving me so much that You forgave me instead. Amen.
H. J. Fordham III, is the president of the Allegheny East Conference.
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