Glorious Forgiveness

Counselor Ed Welch shares the story of a young man who left Christianity behind, only to show up at a worship service later in life. When Ed found the young man afterward and asked him what brought him back to seeking Christ, he simply said, "my father asked my forgiveness for his anger. I knew God must be real, because he had never done that before."

Why is having to ask forgiveness such a rare thing? Parent to child, spouse to spouse, friend to friend - why are we not quicker to run to the "sinner's place" with these precious relationships? (See Stanley Voke's excellent article, The Sinner's Place). I mean, if what Jesus says about us all is true in his famous Sermon on the Mount, that essentially we are all adulterers and murderers who live with adulterers and murderers, then why are we surprised?

I'm convinced that this is so for two reasons:

1.) We're all so addicted to self-righteousness (see Rom. 10:3), that this leads us to a very small view of sin, and also the cross.... we simply refuse to be the bigger sinner, with the bigger log in our eye. Yet our willingness to reveal the truth about us actually displays God's strength and grace!

2.) We're all addicted to the idea that good behavior (morality) is enough of a goal, and so sin and grace simply aren't the main themes of our lives - when they should be our norm.

Do you want to give others around you a taste of God, and His grace? Then own who you really are - an adulterer. Do you want to give others a taste of glory? Then own your lusts, your addictions to your gods (including your "electronic dis-associations" that keep you from loving people, as Dan Allender calls them), and also your anger when those addictions get blocked.

This will be impossible on your own, so pray. Unless you see your sin as the log; even greater, unless you see your great debt against a holy God as the real issue, forgiving others will be impossible. But once you know the great debt you've been forgiven, you may claim the righteousness of Christ as your new clothing and be rid of your own rags - they're only the Emperor's new clothes anyway. Then a new freedom will come to ask forgiveness of those you've failed to love and hold in awe, as a fellow image-bearer of a glorious God.

This, perhaps like nothing else, will show people why the Gospel is true - maybe even more than your preaching and counseling - for they will see why it is that you need a Savior. As Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners...." (Luke 5:32) Which camp will you be in?