Preparation for Reconciliation

     It is almost Easter, a day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ who died to take the punishment for our sins so he could rise again and give us new life (Romans 6:10)!  It is a joyous time, but the time leading up to it is a time of reflection, a time to recognize just how much we need a Savior.

     Over the past couple months, God has been stirring in my heart and mind some ponderings about what it means to be forgiven.  During the singing part of the worship gathering several weeks ago, God spoke to my heart about how I/we view our sin and His forgiveness.  While we must take sin seriously (otherwise, why would we need a Savior?), we must also remember the effect of His forgiveness.

     Now let me pause.  You will see a few Scripture references noted here.  There are so many more, and I invite you to do some investigating for yourself.  I am only providing a few to show you what I mean.

     You see, our sin separates us from God.  Because of our sin, we are dead (Ephesians 2), and anyone who knows how life and death works, we CANNOT make ourselves alive again.  Someone else has to do that for us.  Enter Jesus (Romans 6:10-11), who died so that we might live.  So, should we therefore live our lives mourning what Christ has done?  Should we live in sadness?

     One of my favorite passages in the New Testament is 1 Peter 1.  In it, Peter (the writer) tells of the affects of our salvation, the living hope we have for the things to come when Jesus returns.  While this tells us of future rejoicing, it also shows that we have reason to rejoice now!  And Jesus Himself said that He came so we could have abundant life!!!  In fact, Jesus puts this in contrast to 'the thief' who comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).

     For this reason, when I enter into a time of worship and prayer, I consider the blessing of salvation that God has given me.  This has shaped how I praise Him during Sunday gatherings, as well as how I view my own life when I mess up.  My sins are forgiven, and though I am still learning to live out the redemption and new life I have, I can worship Him in rejoicing as I consider that He has set me free from my sins!

     So what's the setup?  Here's the setup:  A couple weeks ago I learned of a person who had once done me wrong, and how that had affected him.  I learned that this person had changed routines to avoid me/thoughts of me, and that this experience had caused such guilt in his life.  He could not approach me, and he couldn't see that I'd let it go.  Because of these things, he carried around his guilt.

     Now I had forgiven this and moved on.  In fact, I had forgotten about it altogether, something I praise God for doing in my life.  I was not carrying the pain from that experience, nor any bitterness towards him.  If we had talked, I may have been able to offer the same forgiveness personally to him.  But he didn't approach me for that forgiveness.  (Remember my last blog post?  The one about the Gospel in my classroom economy?  One must only ask for it.)

     Because I learned this through a mutual friend, I did not have the opportunity to offer forgiveness in person.  However, I was able to send with said friend a small token of forgiveness.  While at the time, honestly I wasn't thinking of it in that way, but only that it was something I had that I knew would benefit him more than it would me, his response (via mutual friend) was that of relief, of feeling like "we" were ok. 

     We may never have that conversation, but the whole experience reminded me of God's speaking to my heart during Sunday morning worship.  And I think about how we experience God's forgiveness.  Or rather I think of how we forget that God has forgiven us.  We do not seek His face, and therefore we walk around as if we are still under the guilt of our sins.  We carry that burden, and we do not approach the very person who can set us free from that burden.

     So, today I will choose to walk in the LIFE He has given me!  I may not do it perfectly, but as my heart heals in each new experience, I will praise Him for His grace and goodness towards me!