Thursday, May 15, 2008

Forgiven

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us (1 John 1:9).

Tom knew he was in for it. He knew he shouldn’t have done it. He had taken the family car for a joy ride with several of his friends while his parents were out of town on a short trip. They had trusted him to stay home by himself, their only request being that he not use the car while they were gone. He had promised that he wouldn’t, but the temptation proved too strong. He didn’t think a short drive would hurt. Besides, how would his parents find out? But that was before the accident. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the car didn’t fare as well. The body shop gave him an estimate of several thousand dollars to get everything repaired. Tom was frightened. What was he going to do? He couldn’t hide the damage; he would have to admit to his parents what he’d done.

The next day his folks came home to an empty garage. When Tom walked in the door after school, his father was waiting for him. Tom told his father the whole story. He said that he was sorry for what he had done in betraying his parents’ trust. He couldn’t stop the tears of shame that stained his face. But Tom was surprised by his father’s response. There was no yelling, no preaching, no anger. His father only said, "Son, I am just glad that you and your friends are all right. I forgive you."

Our heavenly Father has given us rules to live by—do not kill, cheat, lie or steal; love God and treat your parents respectfully. But since we cannot see God, it is easy to behave as if He is far away, unaware of what we’re up to. So we are tempted to disobey—but when we do, accidents happen. We hurt people with words that should never have been spoken, or by taking advantage of them. We waste the resources God has given us, leaving us with nothing of lasting value. We only wanted to have fun; it never occurred to us that something bad might come of it.

Eventually, it dawns on us that God knows what we’ve done—He is God, after all. And then we begin to panic—what will God do to us for disobeying Him? What kind of awful punishment can we expect? But our heavenly Father surprises us with His response—if we are friends of his Son Jesus, He simply forgives us. He forgives us because when His Son died on the cross, Jesus paid for all the damage caused by our joyrides; He paid the bill we incurred with His own precious blood. Our heavenly Father will forgive you anything, so long as you take responsibility and want to feel His love once more.

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