Today's Devotional

January 14, 2003

Subject: Believe God

Hebrews 11:6 - "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

I have this personal view of forgiveness that goes against the grain of a lot that I hear in the pulpits and from counselors and psychologists of today.  It goes a little something like this.  As believers, we grant forgiveness to others based on the fact that God has forgiven us and as He has forgiven us, so should we forgive.  Okay that sounds simple enough and everybody would nod in agreement on that point.  The other part where there could be disagreement is that I hear people saying that, "I can't forgive myself."  Well, my view is that the problem is that your refusal to forgive yourself is wrapped up in your inability to "believe God."  Now of course your reasons for that inability can be many, but the bottom line is that if God says you're forgiven, you're forgiven.  Everything He says is true and it's up to us on whether or not we want to believe it.  We so often prop our thoughts and ideas up against God and of course the evil one helps us do that.  

Imagine the woman caught in adultery.  When Jesus said, "neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more," what if she had just sat there wallowing in pity the rest of her life because she couldn't "forgive herself" for all she had done.  That would've been a terrible story.  

The problem in most forgiveness issues is that people relate it to a feeling as most other issues also.  In the final analysis, we must "believe God" above anything else.  So today, just don't believe "in" God but "believe God."  If He said it, it's true.  Let's live in His truth.

Carlen