| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “You are loved” Our Bible verse for today: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Embrace the forgiveness.” 1 John 1:9 is an important verse of scripture, one which we should all have memorized. Here John (who was known as “The Apostle of Love”) reminds us of a vitally important aspect of God’s love, His willingness to completely forgive us if we will simply and genuinely confess and repent of our sins. God doesn’t want to hold our sins against us. He has expressed His heart about this numerous times throughout the Bible. In Isaiah 1:18 He said, “Come, let us settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be whiter than snow; though they are crimson red, they will be like wool.” He is saying that if you confess and repent you will be whiter than snow in His sight. We read something similar in Psalm 103:11-12, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” As a function of His great love for you, He removes your sins from you as far as the east is from the west. In others words, infinity. Your sins are removed from you as far as they could possibly be. And, just to put an exclamation point on this, here’s Hebrews 8:12, “For I will forgive their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins.” Those are just a few of the many places in the Bible where God assures us of His willingness, indeed, His deep desire, to forgive us. The problem for many of us is that we don’t really and fully accept that forgiveness. We don’t embrace it and then live like we have been forgiven. Instead, we allow ourselves to wallow in guilt and regret, and we’re often haunted by our past. But that shouldn’t be. If God has forgiven us then we should forgive ourselves and move on in life. We’ll continue thinking about this tomorrow. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
| Copyright © 2020 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. |
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Oak Hill Baptist Church 