His Love and Forgiving Grace

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is is his love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103: 11 – 12

Do you ever wonder what God sees when he looks at you? When he really looks into your heart, mind, and soul? For we know that He sees down to the core of who we really are, and we realize that we often fail to even come close to living up to His expectations for us.

We often recognize ourselves for the flawed beings we are, and we don’t like what we see and what we have become. We often deeply disappoint ourselves, and when we do, we can’t even imagine how grieved, appalled, and disappointed God must be. But amazingly, that is not who our loving God is.    

For Scripture tells us that so great is God’s love for us, His children, that there is absolutely nothing we could ever do to make Him love us any more, or any less. When I think of how that great love spills over into His forgiving grace, I am so humbled and filled with complete and overwhelming awe, wonder, and amazement.

It seems incomprehensible! How could our God who commands our love, obedience, service, and trust in Him be willing to not only forgive our every iniquity, but to forget them? Why would He not want to keep a record of our wrongs, and bring them up to us every time we fail Him again just to remind us of His goodness to us?  

Our sovereign Creator has the omnipotent ability to know every transgression we do, and He has the right to justly mark them down, and to bring judgment against us. But He doesn’t, and even if He did, who could ever stand before Him and be found worthy?

None of us – no matter how holy or righteous someone might proclaim himself to be – no one would be able to stand before Him blameless and worthy. But just as any parent does as part of a loving, caring, trusting relationship with his child, God desires us to come to Him with acknowledgement of our frailties and seek His wisdom and strength. But amazingly, forgiveness is already ours. He has forgiven us “as far as the east is from the west so has He removed our transgressions from us.”

In Him there is total and absolute forgiveness! By sending His Son, he instituted a way for us to be worthy to come to Him. God sent His Son for one reason, and that reason was simply out of love – pure, perfect, complete, and unconditional love for us – to save us from our sins. And through Jesus Christ and His death on the cross, we have been given forgiveness for every wrong we have ever done, or will ever do in our lifetime.

Because of the cross and because of His great love for us, God can now look upon us and see us through the eyes of grace. We no longer have to be concerned about how He sees us, for He sees us as a child of His, worthy of His presence, love, and many blessings.

How He must desire that we be more like Him and grant the same grace to others. We are much too quick to take offense, slow to forgive, hesitant to forget a grudge, and sometimes it’s as if we even seem to take pleasure in remembering old wrongs to use against others. And sadly, we do these things, not to our worst enemies, but often to the people God has placed in our lives that we love and care about most.

Who are we to “mark” wrongdoings in others when God doesn’t do the same for us? Who are we not to forgive others when God forgives us?

Through Him, we too can have the power of forgiveness and grace for others. May we use the same grace He bestows on us as our gift to each other.

Prayer

Our eternal God and Creator of heaven and earth, thank you for sending your Son to us, to give us the gift of your saving grace and love. Thank you for seeing us through eyes of your grace and not through the many transgressions we have done. Help us to be more loving and forgiving to those around us and grant them the same grace you so willingly give to us. Thank you for your presence in our lives and for your goodness to us. Amen