28 Days of Thanksgiving in the Book of Psalms – Day 12

Today’s Verse: “Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His Holy name.” Psalms 97:12 (NKJV)

I Give Thanks For: God’s Forgiveness

According to Romans 3:23, we have all sinned and we fall short of God’s glory! Every one of us. Sinners! We are born with that sinful nature that separates us from the God who created us. We all do and say things that are against God, against His Word, things that hurt and wound others, things that are sinful in nature. Whether or not we acknowledge that fact, still, we are all sinners. We need forgiveness that only God can offer us.

Today, I am thankful for the fact that God forgives me from all my sin! I can go to my loving God, at any time, in any place, and I can confess my sins to Him. He will be listening to that prayer of mine. And in confessing, I know that He will forgive me of my sins (I John 1:9). God’s forgiveness is a really good thing!

The student with whom I am doing this challenge also used “God’s Forgiveness of My Sin” as one of the things being thankful for. This student had a question for me to answer though. The question is thought provoking at best.

Why would God want to forgive me?

Great question. It’s one that I know I too have asked many times throughout my lifetime. Often we feel like we don’t deserve God’s forgiveness. We think, with this particular sin, there is no way God could ever forgive me. But, my friend, that simply isn’t true. God will forgive all our sin. Because He is a forgiving God! And for that truth I give thanks!!

I shared with my student these three things:

(1) God forgives us because He is a loving God. He loves the sinner. And at the same time, He hates our sin. Sin is what separates us from Him, from His love. And that is why, in love, God sent His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sin upon the cross. Jesus, in God’s great love, died for our sin. For my sin. For your sins. (Romans 5:8). There is no greater love than that!

(2) God forgives us because His mercy and grace are greater than our sin. Greater than any sin we could ever commit. His mercy and grace is greater still. Praise God! God’s mercy is when God doesn’t give us what we do deserve. God’s grace is when God gives us what we don’t deserve. Think about those two sentences a moment. Do we deserve His wrath, His punishment for our sin? Absolutely! But God doesn’t give us what we really deserve. Are we worthy of God’s grace? Absolutely not! Yet grace is what God gives to us; grace is something that, because of our sin, we don’t deserve! God’s mercy and grace are greater than all of our sin!

(3) God forgives us because His peace and presence in our lives is important to Him. Our sin, when left unconfessed, separates us from God. Our sin robs us of our peace and joy in our life. Our sin removes us (separates us) from the very presence of God; our Holy God is not able to look upon our sin (Habakkuk 1:13). He longs to restore our peace, and renew our relationship with Him once again. That’s where His loving forgiveness comes in. He waits to forgive us of our sins! When we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just and will forgive us from all our sin, never to be remembered anymore. That, my friend, is true forgiveness!

Today, I truly am grateful that I know God’s forgiveness of all my sins! Thankful that I have God’s perfect peace within my heart! Thankful that He is ever present with me! Thankful for a relationship with my God that is awesome, all because His mercy and grace are greater than all my sin!