Forgiveness does not come cheaply. Someone has to pay the price. For example, what happens if you owe someone $1000 & you cannot repay your debt? Imagine the person to whom you owe the money saying, “I forgive you your debt.” Does this offer to cancel your debt mean no one needs to pay the $1000. No, of course not. Instead of you paying, the person to whom you owe the money has themselves had to pay. They carried your debt. When God forgives our sin, He carries our debt. He pays the penalty, the price, for our sin – which is death. He is willing to forgive us of our debt and forget it even happened.
One of the most wonderful things about receiving the forgiveness of Christ is that we can be set free from the burden of guilt. When we truly know we are forgiven then we can begin to forgive ourselves too. There is a true story of a man, a much-loved man of God who carried the burden of a secret sin he had committed many years before. He had repented but still had no peace, no sense of God’s forgiveness. In the church he attended was a woman who deeply loved God & who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Jesus & Jesus spoke with her. The man, however, was sceptical. To test the woman he said to her, “The next time you speak with Christ, I want you to ask Him what sin I have committed.” The woman agreed. A few days later the man asked, “Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?” “Yes, He did,”she replied. “And did you ask Him what sin I committed?” “Yes.” “Well, what did He say?” “He said, ‘I don’t remember.’” This little story reminds us of the fact God forgives & He forgets our sin – even if we don’t. As God says in Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, & remembers your sins no more.”
No matter the sinful things we have said or done, God is willing to forgive us if we will repent & turn to Jesus. There is wonderful relief & wonderful release from guilt, shame, and condemnation when we come to Christ and receive His forgiveness. He is willing to forgive us and forget it even happened, as Christians we need to be willing to do the same.
