From A Park Bench - God Forgives

To most of us the concept of forgiveness is to forgive those that sin against us. As long as our friends and acquaintances do not upset us we can live in peace and happiness with them. When we upset each other, the moment then comes when we must choose either to forgive them or not. We can imitate this process or we can wait until they approach us. If neither party takes that first step the relationship can stay broken for years and can fester like an open wound. 

The gospel is the most amazing and wonderful act of forgiveness ever imitated, because God actually forgives everyone before they were born. Before you and I even existed we were forgiven. 

God actually justifies the ungodly and forgives the world before it repents. God accepted Christ sacrifice on the cross and he is now not counting mankind’s sins against them. The offer to mankind from God is to receive the divine favor that is freely given and be reconciled to him. All we have to do is believe, it is not dependent on how good we are, or our effort, or keeping the rules, it is a free gift, offered by God through the finished work of Christ. 

This reconciliation is not just for all our past sins, it is for every sin, past, present and all future sins.Total forgiveness at the cross, complete reconciliation, eternal redemption. A new creation and the old sinful nature is crucified and left on the cross.

Jesus identified with our sin and took our sins. He was endured with sin for our sake. He took our punishment, He took our mistakes, He took the ruin sin caused. He took it on himself, so we could become the righteousness of God in Him! We now identify with Christ, we are seated with him in heavenly places and our spirit is interwoven into the fullness of Christ.