Forgiveness

I met a man who, as he learned about Macayla, shared he had lost a daughter to a rare condition several years ago. His comment was, "I guess that was God's way of punishing me for my past." I listened to his anguish. He was not a church-goer or anything, but he believed there was a "God" somewhere "up there" who was mad at him.

Often we fall into two extremes when it comes to our past and present sins. We either forgive ourselves too quickly or not at all. Sometimes we may be too quick to dismiss our immoral actions and never take accountability for them. This, of course, breeds further problems. But we may do the opposite and never forgive ourselves or believe that God could really forgive us. Our choices and actions impact us and those around us and sometimes with devastating results. We may never share with anyone the guilt we carry around. This guilt can become a barrier to truly accepting forgiveness from God, others or ourselves. To be sure, guilt can initially act as a conduit to bring conviction and change. But when there is only guilt, it is neither healthy nor helpful to our transformation. I even think there is a difference between, regret and guilt. Regret, as I mean it here, is the desire that we would have done things differently. Guilt is the weight of our culpability in the things we regret.

Forgiveness from God is an act of His grace. He extends forgiveness when we repent from our sins and realize that He paid for those transgressions at the cross. We cannot earn it. Our good deeds do not cancel out our bad deeds. God is not grading us with a set of scales, waiting until our good deeds tilt the balance, making us worthy of forgiveness. In fact, none of us are worthy of forgiveness. But God saw fit to extend mercy through Jesus Christ and for those who receive this gift there is no longer any condemnation. It's amazing how the God of the universe will forgive us, but we cannot forgive ourselves or others. Maybe it's because we think of God as some warm and fuzzy grandpa in the sky and think he is obligated to forgive. But God exercises real justice for those who have sinned. He is no pushover and he does not wink at immorality. If He can forgive us, then we can forgive those who have hurt us. If He has forgiven us, then we do not need to live under the weight of endless guilt. Yes, we will still have regrets, but healthy guilt will be replaced with conviction and change if we truly trust God's grace.

I tried to assure the man I spoke with that his daughter's death was not a punishment doled out by God for past transgressions. If God punished each of us for our sins, we would all be dead for that is what we deserve. I tried to assure him that God poured His just punishment on Jesus Christ on a hilltop just outside of Jerusalem's walls. But, this man could not let go of the guilt. Guilt did not lead him to Christ, but kept him from Christ. It is a sad thing when we think our sin is bigger than God's mercy.