We Are Forgiven

It was a hard day; the house was a mess, I was not looking too pretty either. I was dragging physically and in every other way while trying to be a good mom in the middle of it. That didn’t seem to be working out too well that day either.

I couldn’t get it right. As much as I was trying to do the right things, say the right things, and live the right way, I still felt defeated all the time. Somehow I didn’t know how I could make up these shortcomings of mine to God.

I was in my twenties and already had a list of things a mile long, and it seemed like each day I was adding more to it.

God gently spoke to my heart that I was trying to work for, earn, and make up for something that was already given to me by Him.

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” Romans 10:8-10

I had confessed with my mouth that I believed in my heart that Jesus was Lord and that God raised Him from the dead. I believed I was saved though there was a battle going on. Even though I knew I had been forgiven when I accepted Jesus, I had not fully accepted it. I struggled to believe He could love and accept me with all these constant shortcomings and internal struggles and sins.

I love King David. He is real. I am thankful God shared King David’s life with us in His Word.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah Psalm 32:1-5

Here King David expresses the joy that came from forgiveness the Lord gave to him after his affair with Bathsheba and sending her husband to the front lines after learning she was pregnant.

That is pretty big stuff, and it came with some brutal consequences for David, but I want to focus on what He shares with us here.

Vs 3 and 4 say, “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of Summer.”

When we hide our sin or keep it hidden hoping God won’t know about it or for the purpose of being able to keep on sinning, it affects us physically. We will be weighed down with guilt and shame. We will be more anxious and depressed.

Sometimes, to keep it hidden, we have to do a lot of lying, leading to more sinning, and the cycle continues.

King David continues to say that he brought his sin to God. He confessed to Him and repented of his wrongdoing. King David no longer tried to cover it up or hide it. He brought it out of darkness into the light.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9

This is a promise to us. If we genuinely confess our sins to God, He is faithful and just to forgive us. To understand we need to be forgiven means we know there is sin in our lives that need to be forgiven. That is a good place to be.

Many of us who are believers are overly aware there has been or is still sin in our lives. We can get stuck living in shame and condemnation. That is where I lived for years. The enemy had a playground inside my head and my heart for way too long.

God had forgiven me of what I had laid down and confessed, but somehow the voices in my head from years past caused me to feel as though I had to keep working at it and making up for all I had done wrong. I didn’t want to disappoint God anymore.

Jesus died to take those sins. He died to reconcile our relationship with God so that we could go to His throne of grace with a repentant heart and receive that forgiveness.

He doesn’t want us to live in the prison of shame and condemnation any longer. He doesn’t want us living in a place where we are working and striving to be the perfect person.

We are forgiven.

Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, yet you still live in a place of shame and condemnation?

Do you struggle to believe that God truly forgives you?

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

You no longer have to live in condemnation.

Just like we talked about in past blog posts, Jesus did His part, and we have to do ours. As the Holy Spirit reveals those sins in our lives, we acknowledge the sin, bring it out of hiding, and confess it to God. Jesus died, and the veil was torn. We can go directly to Him now. We no longer need to go through anyone to get to God. Only Jesus.

Sometimes we bring a safe friend into those repentant times. Or we confess to someone so that they can be praying with us.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:16

There is healing in confession. Just like with King David, the physical weight that comes from living in guilt and shame comes off and we are lighter and freer. Jesus died so we don’t have to carry the weight of it all any longer.

When we share our struggles with one another and carry each other’s burdens, we walk a whole lot better.

I find as I sense and know the conviction the Holy Spirit is giving me, I am quicker to repent. The quicker I am to repent, the faster He is to show me the next time. I don’t fight it, stuff it, or fluff it any longer.

The more I am obedient, the more sensitive to the Holy Spirit I am.

This is the life I want to live! This is the life I want you to live!

When we live knowing we are forgiven, living with a sensitive and repentant heart, we live in a way where it is easier to forgive one another as well.

When we forgive one another well, we live a more peaceful life, and it brings unity to the body of Christ.

I pray as we ponder these things in our hearts today, God will reveal any places in us that need to be brought to Him. I pray we genuinely receive the forgiveness we have been given in Jesus, and we begin to live like the forgiven people we are today and every day.