Forgiven

For+ giv+ en

-to be granted relief from payment of a debt

I told her to write down her passwords.
My wife insisted that her online accounts all had the same user id and password so she didn’t need to write them down, but that theory came crashing back to cyberreality one rainy Monday night. She couldn’t login, so she checked her email for the original confirmation message and then to her ehorror, she realized it had been put in her Trash folder and deleted.

In many ways, this is like God’s assessment of our sin. The files have been gathered together, placed in the Recycle Bin, and emptied. We call it forgiveness.

Peter on one occasion asked Jesus how many times he should forgive a friend. It was right after Jesus explained how to deal with someone who sins against us. Peter probably had a friend in mind, perhaps a fellow fisherman who was always laying out the bait and Peter was always the naïve one to bite.

Now he wants payback.

It might have been seven times this man had sinned against Peter, and his magic number seems justifiably high to withhold forgiveness. But Jesus shatters his wishful thinking and declares, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22).

This is the heart of God for you and I. He has forgiven us in Christ (Ephesians 4:32) for all of our past sins, and continues to empty the Recycle Bin of sin for our present and future (1 John 1:9). We can’t drudge it back up any more than we can undelete a trashed email.

Allow the forgiveness of God to breathe life into your spiritual walk today, and rest assured your file has been moved to the “Forgiven” account!