Be forgiven — and be free

The Lord's Prayer — a prayer Jesus taught His disciples when they asked Him how to pray — says in part, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” That “as” in there implies an ongoing action. Forgiveness is a moving conveyor belt, I've discovered.

People say and do things I need to forgive. And I say and do things they need to forgive. It's the same for everybody. To be human is to need forgiveness. Not forgiveness for being human — but for what comes from the heart and actions of that humanity.

Do you believe God is a forgiving God? The Lord's Prayer says He is. The prayer isn't that long — but Jesus packed in the essentials. Forgiveness being one of them.

How does forgiveness God's way happen? This week as Lent begins — remembering those last days of Jesus' earthly walk before dying on the cross — it's on my mind. I can't forget my forgiveness has a cost.

It's a simple message. Humanity sins. God sent His Son — coming in the person of Jesus — to die in our place for those sins. The perfect offering so those sins could be forgiven — gone — making us right with God.

Not everyone believes this. And sometimes those who do, drift with it. But to really see it is to be stunningly awed and grateful. Where I live has one way in. Other roads take me other places, but not home. This is what the Bible explains about Jesus. He makes a grand statement, “I am the way, the truth, the life; no one comes to the Father (God) except through Me.”

I don't find my way home to my Creator with a bucket load of sin. That time I was walking a country road and checked out a heavy opaque bag abandoned in a field — and discovered inside two dead skunks — is about what sin “smells” like to God. I wouldn't want it in my house, either.

To be forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus has an action on my part — that uncomfortable word “repentance.” It's uncomfortable because I have to admit to something — something I have thought or done that's not what God wants for me — or something I didn't think was wrong in the first place — but actually it was wrong.

Worse yet, after I finally admit it, I have to quit it. That is repentance defined — admit it and quit it — punctuated with remorse. Can there be a person out there who doesn't know how hard that is. But what results is forgiveness and freedom. And those gifts are sky high priceless.

Forgiveness God's way is through Jesus. The Bible makes quite a declaration — His life for mine so I can have the “abundant life” Jesus gives. It begins when I welcome Him into my life — and it keeps going. Kind of like one of those perfect days when you say, “I wish this day would never end.”

I'm a “preacher's kid” — but I don't like “preachy.” Give me life in the skid marks. Admit it and quit it. Be forgiven and free — and follow the open road committed to the God who calls Himself the way.