Ephesians 1:7
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Daniel 9:9
The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;
Hebrews 10:17
Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
Acts 3:19
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
1 John 1:19
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
You can obviously see a pattern in the scriptures we are talking about today. We are going to discuss God’s grace and forgiveness and how sometime we abuse this. Have you ever continued to do something that you knew was wrong but you kept doing it because you wouldn’t be held accountable for it? Or have you ever kept doing something to someone because you knew they would forgive you over and over again? We may not have done it to the people in our everyday lives but how many times have we done this to God. How many times have we interpreted God’s grace and forgiveness to mean that we can sin and live however we want because God will forgive us anyway? Grace is not a sin for all gift card. We do not get to live any kind of way just because we know God will forgive and that His love will cover our sin. The thing about having a relationship with God is that once we give our hearts to Him, we will do away with all the things that kept us separated from Him in the past. That is when we grow in our faith, and in our relationship with Him. If we are constantly sinning just because we know He will forgive us, it’s like constantly cheating on a spouse because we know they will not leave us. What I’m saying is, just because we know we will be forgiven doesn’t mean we have to hurt the people we say we love. We do this to God too often, we take a chance and disobey Him, because we know that at the end of the day all we have to do is pray for forgiveness and we will have it, because God loves us that much. But can we love Him enough to not sin? Can we love Him enough not to just use Him as a grace card that we can swipe when we need our conscious cleared?
When we think about it, when we live like this are we really committed to God. When we are willing to give up a relationship just for pleasure that will only last a minute, are we really in a relationship with Him? Did we ever really love Him? Last time I checked leaving or hurting someone you love isn’t easy. When we have a relationship with someone that we truly love, we will fight for it. We’re not going to give it up that easy, we won’t cheat on someone we truly love because we take everything into consideration. How bad we will hurt this person, what it may mean for the relationship. Why do we not do the same thing for God, why are we only in a relationship with Him to secure our spots in heaven, go to church on Sundays, and live however we please the rest of the week?
All this to say, if we are going to commit ourselves and our lives to God we have to really commit. We have to be devoted in this relationship to Him. God is loving and graceful, and will love us forever no matter what we don. However, let’s value our relationship with Him enough so that we will want to live our lives with Him, and devote our hearts to Him. Not take it back whenever we decide that we want to sin and give it back when we want our conscious cleared. When we know better we do better. Not knowing or being ignorant is no longer an excuse when we encounter God and give our lives to Him.
Response/Prayer Time
Respond in whatever way you feel led. Allow that response to guide your prayer. Examine yourself and see if you have been taking God’s love and grace for granted. Then talk to Him, confess, ask for forgiveness, and allow Him to change your heart and influence your life.
I love you and I hope you have an amazing Day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 282!
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