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Psalm 130:3-4
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

Forgiveness. That word is powerful and calming, refreshing and cleansing, renewing and burden-lifting. “I forgive you.” Those words allow guilt to go away and invite peace to take its place. If God kept a record of all our evil thoughts, reckless words, and aberrant actions, our spiritual legs would buckle under the weight. We would be buried under the pile of our sins that would forever stand as a monument to our depravity. 

But God does not keep a record of our sins. 

He nailed our sins to the cross with Jesus. Our Sin-Bearer paid the penalty for every morsel of juicy gossip, every white lie, every murder, and every despicable action of man. And when we trust in Jesus’ death as our own, he throws our sin into the depth of the sea. He puts it behind his back. The God with perfect memory chooses to remember our sin no more. Forgiveness is love in action! 

How should we respond to God’s great forgiveness? Should we use it as a license to sin? Should we use it as an excuse for spiritual lethargy? No! Forgiveness allows us to stand and follow hard after Jesus. Forgiveness should cause us to worship and honor Jesus with our lives. Forgiveness allows us to serve God with the reverence he alone deserves. 

Father, thank you for your great forgiveness. Thank you for not keeping a record of my sin. Thank you for allowing me to stand before you clean because of Jesus. Help me live a life free from my sinful past and walk with you in the freedom of forgiveness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.