Forgiven and Loved

Our sins have been removed as far as the east is from the west.

That floors me.

Just today, as I was driving, I was pondering. Thinking how necessary the judicial system is, yet how unlike God it is. Maybe that's why we have difficulty comprehending His ways sometimes.

In our society, criminal offenses are, understandably, ranked according to "major" and "minor" offenses and punished accordingly. Littering is a little sin that rarely gets anyone in trouble, speeding isn't a huge offense, but it's a common one, and things like murder can get you life in prison.

But in God's eyes, sin is equal. It all contributed to His son's death on the cross. He doesn't keep a criminal record on us. He doesn't rank our sin. He doesn't have laws where telling a lie gets us a greater punishment than murder or rape.

And there's no such thing as life in hell without parole.

You can be forgiven from the "unpardonable" without any more effort than a little sin because Jesus has already paid the penalty for all sins and it requires no "effort" (read: it's not works-based). He took what we deserved. And no I don't understand it, but I do believe it.

And even though police officers will set out speed "traps" trying to catch us doing something wrong, Jesus doesn't. When we've been forgiven, he sees us the way the Father sees us. He's not waiting for us to stumble, he's waiting to catch us when we do. He's not waiting for us to mess up, he's waiting to forgive us when we ask because we did.

You can lose your license for repeated traffic offenses. If God treated us that way, we'd be done. "Sarah, I see this is the 483rd time you've done this. I'll have to take your Christianity away." It just doesn't work that way. We might stumble so many times that we feel we could never represent Christ well.

 But oh the beauty of grace. I am forgiven. And loved. And always will be.