Forgiveness, the Faithfulness of God

Thankfulness.  Gratitude.  Goodness.  Salvation.  Peace with God.  All concepts that are real and right with eternal effect.  All these are resultant from the faithfulness of God in forgiveness.  Everything good about creation and life itself is due to the restorative processes that come about, in basis, through the faithfulness of God in forgiveness.

Forgiveness is the hope of reconciliation.
It is the second chance when it is needed.

The forgiveness of God is enshrined 
in the perfection and safety of faithfulness.

Forgiveness is an everlasting truth,
burgeoning with hope, life, and victory.

What was done was done once, 
for all time, for every human being eternally.

~

Such is the model of forgiveness,
the faithfulness of God,
done perfectly, appropriately, righteously,
for all to emulate in an imperfect world.

In a world full of examples of evil,
forgiveness—when done as shown—
IS “on earth as it is in heaven”
notwithstanding appearances of injustice.

~

Humanity often has a complex 
relationship with forgiveness.

We are quick to forget the 
faithfulness of God in forgiveness.

There is something all humankind is apt to forget, especially when life is beyond the pale.  We accuse and condemn God because life is unfair to us, forgetting none of us is fair with God or others due to our inherent human limitations.

Yet, of course, God made us the way He has; He accepts us the way we are.  And this is the way of salvation, if only we will agree that we need Him.  If only we can comprehend the reality of our sinful nature, our limitations, and our impact on ourselves and others, and thereby seek God and follow Him to live better than we would otherwise.

The way of salvation is faithfulness.

God forgives and is faithful in doing it.

God never withdraws His forgiveness
like we human beings tend to do.

We can be so quick at forgetting that God is faithful—faithful to the degree of eternal, unconditional forgiveness—that we create and propagate harm, and only truly at salvation do we repent of these harms.  When we remember God’s faithfulness considering our own failure.

Suddenly, when we are caught and stuck in the headlights of truth—when we begin to see how far from good and right and God we are—then God finally has our attention.  In the weakness of our contrition is strength that is pliable for His use—when we see His cosmic faithfulness in our lives to have forgiven us.

Truly the best of reality arrives when we 
start to see ourselves in the light of truth.

God’s faithful forgiveness convinces us 
this is true when we can see.

Our faithfulness matches His when we 
see the light of His faithfulness to us.

We are faithful to the extent that we agree, finally, 
that God is faithful, all-forgiving, holy-good to His Word.

~

THE DEPTHS OF GRACE AND PEACE

God will sink with us to the fathomless depths enough to scoop us up to the surface that we might breathe His grace, be revived to life, and partake of His blessed peace, ever more.

Before we have experienced this double blessing, we might as well consider ourselves so blind as incapable of seeing what can only be seen with the heart.  Such sight is light, where blindness is the darkness that hides us from the realities of grace and peace in forgiveness.

Forgiveness is etched in grace and peace.
Indeed, forgiveness is driven deep into both.

Forgiveness resembles grace.
Forgiveness oozes peace.

Forgiveness and grace and peace seem so interchangeable, and the opposite is also true; bitterness and hardness of heart cannot coexist with grace and peace.  Forgiveness will always lead to grace and peace, and this is the heart to nurture.

It must be impossible to imagine God being faithful whilst also struggling to forgive, unless we’re on a journey toward understanding our hurt and healing from it.

The more we engage in the grace and peace of God, 
the more we can connect with the 
faithfulness of God in our being forgiven, 
the more we will sense grace and peace having their way in us.

~

THE FULLNESS OF GOD’S FAITHFUL FORGIVENESS

Nothing on this earth and nowhere in all creation is there a concept more perfect, whole and shalom-like than the fullness of God’s faithful forgiveness.  Nothing!

The extent of God’s mercy 
cannot be comprehended.

It is utterly breathtaking.

The extent of God’s mercy is commensurate 
with what God gave up—His only eternal Son.

There is no depth that God cannot reach
in terms of mercy to draw a soul from death to life.

God has seen many more depths of human depravity—including the cavernous capacities—than we could even contemplate or bear.  And still God forgives with a forgiveness that is utterly unaffected by such depths.

The fullness of God’s faithful forgiveness is supreme in both contexts of time—the moment and eternity.  There is no moment we are alive that we truly comprehend the fullness of God’s faithful forgiveness.  And God’s faithful forgiveness is an eternal truth that—like Jesus—is the same yesterday, today, forever (Hebrews 13:8).

WHAT RESPONSE FOR THIS FAITHFUL FORGIVENESS?

What do we give God for His faithful forgiveness—a mercy that is beyond compare in this world?  It’s a question in our faith that we can continue keep coming back to, especially around the communion table as we partake of the elements of Jesus’ broken body and blood shed for each of us.

There is one thing we need to be careful of, however.  That is to not make a chore of this grace that we have been given.  It is a gift to be grateful for and enjoyed.  Surely in our peaceful enjoyment of this most precious and necessary gifts is the response of gratitude.

The grace-gift of God’s faithful forgiveness is
the cosmic peace of divine mercy poured out eternally.

This grace-gift is precious in that there 
is no better acquisition in this life.

This grace-gift is necessary in that there 
is nothing more necessary in this life.

Those in receipt of the grace-gift 
of God’s faithful forgiveness—
both most precious and most necessary—
are best fitted with gratitude.

~

And still—to the glory of God—there are
allowances made for those human imperfections
we carry in and about ourselves throughout life.

God’s faithful forgiveness, like love, never fails.
In this world, while it is this world,
His mercies never cease, His patience is everlasting.