Forgiveness Introduction – Forgiveness Part 1

Scripture: Psalm 32:1-5 (Click Link) 1 Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! 2 Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! 3 When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. 4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude 5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. (Psalm 32:1-5 NLT) God is a gracious and forgiving God! Throughout the history of God’s dealings with us humans, God has always taken the initiative to reconnect with us, to forgive us, and to restore the fellowship damaged by our sin. Today we’re beginning a series of devotionals on Forgiveness. First we’ll look at God’s forgiving nature, then we’ll see what Jesus has to say about forgiving others as God has forgiven us, and finally we’ll explore some practical ways to work out the truth of forgiveness in our lives.

These devotionals will focus on applying some aspect of the Grace of Forgiveness, first in our relationship with God and then in our relationships with others. My desire is simply that each of us will experience more of the freedom that comes through receiving the Grace of God’s Forgiveness and sharing the Grace of Forgiveness with others. The Forgiveness we’ll be talking about is not us trying to balance our karma so we don’t get in too much trouble, it’s not us pretending that we’ve not sinned and that we have no guilt to deal with, and it’s not us trying to do good deeds or keep rules so that our good outweighs our wrong. The Forgiveness we’re engaging with is total unconditional pardon to an offender, removing the guilt, and releasing the offender from judgement. God so freely and graciously does this for us, and we’re going to learn that we can do this for others!

O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. (Psalm 86:5 NLT) Prayer: Father, Thank you for the Grace of Forgiveness! We know that you’re a forgiving God and we want to trust your forgiving nature and receive the complete forgiveness you have for us. And we want to learn to be forgivers just like you! For Jesus’ sake, Amen!