December
7, 2003
GIFTS
OF PARDON, MERCY AND KINDNESS
"You
are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
abundant in kindness" (Nehemiah 9:17, NKJV).
Justice
demands that sin be not merely pardoned, but the death penalty
must be executed in order to eradicate sin. "For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23), and "The
last enemy that will be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians
15:26). God, through the gift of His only-begotten Son, has
met the demands of His law by sending Christ to die for us.
He paid the penalty for our sins and God provides the pardon.
God requires
that we confess our sins and humble our hearts before Him.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"
(1 John 1:9).
God does
not give-up on us because of our sins. "God
did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through Him might be saved"
(John 3:17). We make mistakes, and grieve His Spirit, but
when we come to Him with contrite hearts, asking His forgiveness,
He will not turn us away. There are behaviors to be changed,
wrong thoughts and feelings have been cherished, we have pride,
impatience, self-sufficiency and complaining. Wrong thoughts
and behaviors separate us from the fruits of His Spirit and
His values; truth, justice, love, mercy, joy, peace, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness and self-control. The Spirit of God
will cleanse us of the rot perpetrated on the world by the
spirit of darkness, hate, envy and evil.
Nothing
but His Holy Spirit can enable and entitle us to receive the
blessings of His covenants [promises] of grace, eternal life,
love, joy, peace and His presence in our lives. "We look
to self, as though we had power to save ourselves; but Jesus
died for us because we are helpless to do this. In Him is
our hope, our justification, our righteousness" (God's
Amazing Grace, p. 139).
Jesus
said, "Whoever does the will of
God is My brother and My sister" (Mark 3:35).
We go by the name of Christian, meaning we are followers of
Jesus Christ. However, we are not Christ's unless we have
accepted Him as our Savior, meaning that we have accepting
Him and are living His values in our lives. What an honor
Jesus has conferred to all who have yielded themselves to
Him and His Spirit that He has called us His brothers and
sisters. Oh, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on
us that He is willing, yes even anxious, to adopt us into
His family as His children and brothers and sisters of Christ.
Wonderful
Father; His arms are open wide to receive us and His great
heart of love is waiting to bless us. He is ready, willing
and able to pardon us, to cleanse us, to be merciful and kind
to us and bless us, that we may know Him and share Him with
all people of all nations.
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