Blessedly Forgiven

 

To be forgiven by God, we must spend time with Him. To spend time, we need to find Him. To find Him, we need to know where to look. It’s as simple as finding a needle in the haystack – if you have a strong magnet. You see, God is always available to be found to those who seek Him, He is the magnet. While there are many verses that address this, I selected this one to be first:

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (Acts 17:27-28 KJV)

I’d suggest that reading the chapter will place the verse  in context, and there is much around it that is good reading to suggest we are expected to seek the Lord as we are His children.

Israel – Jacob, if you will – was chosen by God to father a special nation dedicated to showing God to the rest of the world. Through Israel, all nations would be blessed:

And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? (Genesis 18:17-18 KJV)

And, they are blessed.  While this next verse can be applied specifically to a time in history where the people of Israel needed God, I believe it is applicable to those who would call upon Him:

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:11-13 KJV)

All of the above are included in the Bible which also tells us several times that all men have sinned:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12 KJV)

Way before that, God spoke to Israel in Isaiah chapter 59 (the whole chapter is excellent reading!) and let’s look at the first two verses:

Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:1-2 KJV)

What in the world does all this talk about biblical sinfulness have to do with being blessed by forgiveness? God provides the forgiveness after we provide the request for it. For New Testament Christians, which is also for me, it’s tied up in these verses:

But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. (Acts 15:11 KJV)

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (Ephesians 2:5 KJV)

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8 KJV)

These verses sound good alone – they make sense, and still sound good, when they are read in context. We do sin. Sin is acting against God’s will. God has two commandments that are used to base all His laws:

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40 KJV)

Every single day of our life, we break one of those commandments, don’t we? We either ignore God, or we don’t love a neighbor. Simple failure. It is a blessing that God forgives us. King David knew this and wrote (the rest of this chapter is worth reading, too!):

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. (Psalms 32:1-2 KJV)

The sin is covered, thus we are blessed that God does not count that sin against us as we are truthful acknowledging our need for God. For the Christian, we are covered by the death of Christ through a conversion to belief described by Paul in Acts 26. Also described by Peter in Acts 10. These chapters should be read in their entirety – and if not understood, read the four gospels. I’d suggest beginning with John, then Luke, Matthew and Mark. But, that’s a personal preference. Then read the rest of the Bible to see if these are “none other things” then those which the Old Testament did say should come:

Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. (Acts 26:22-23 KJV)

Do you feel blessed?