Rushwavefrom the book Why I Love God
8: God Forgave Numerous Other Sins
God forgave me of speaking evil of Him and using His name in vain. How often had I charged Him with wrongdoing! If there is a God, why would He allow suffering in the world? How could a God of love send someone to hell? I also used the word “God” and the name “Jesus Christ” flippantly, and even as curse words. For all these words against Him, God forgave me.
God forgave me of all my sinful words against my fellow man; against those whom God Himself had created in His image. The things which I said to others, or the way in which I said them, was not reflective of God’s standards. And if I had to answer for every single word I had ever uttered in my lifetime, that alone would be sufficient to condemn me. But God forgave me of all those sins as well.
God forgave me of all my sins of omission. Sin did not just involve the committing of certain acts. It often involved the failure to act in light of certain moral obligations. I was often blind to even what those obligations were, but I was accountable to God nonetheless. For all the times I should have acted, but did not, God forgave me.
God forgave me of all my sins of conscience. Since my youth there were many things I knew I should not do, but I did them anyway. There were countless instances of this, too many to recall. But God saw everyone of those violations of conscience, and He forgave me.
God forgave me of all my sinful heart attitudes. There were many things that I may have never acted out physically, but in my heart the seed was there in the form unrighteous anger, covetousness, or unforgiveness. All those illicit feelings, desires and heart attitudes He forgave me.
But God’s forgiveness did not just extend to all the sins I committed before I believed. It extended to all those sins I would commit after I believed. Throughout my Christian life I have not always acted in perfect, complete obedience to my heavenly Father. I sincerely wish it were otherwise, but that is not the case. Nor is my life in this world such that sin will be completely eradicated while I have this earthly body. And if I say I have absolutely no sin, I am deceiving myself and the truth is not in me. But as God’s child, I can draw consolation recognizing if I confess my sins, He is faithful and just to forgive me my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I can go to the Father recognizing I have an Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. And Jesus Christ is the propitiation for my sins.
So the moment I believed, I was forgiven. I did not fully understand the extent of that forgiveness when I believed, but it was a fact nonetheless. God forgave all my sins prior to when I believed; He forgave every single one of them. And in my new Christian walk after I believed, when I sinned I could go to Him and likewise be forgiven and cleansed. And just as the love of the immoral woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair was in proportion to the great debt she perceived she had been forgiven, even so my love towards God is in proportion to the great debt which He has forgiven me.
from the book Why I Love God
Learn more ...