Facing forgiveness – Devotion for
As a child, I found myself in mischief from time to time (yes, only when I was a child – not when I was a teen, young adult, or even now at 36 . . . ok, maybe just a little mischief). Whether it was getting into a little trouble at school or breaking (accidentally) some of my mom’s china, I’m not sure what I feared the most – the punishment I would receive, or the forgiveness. See sometimes the punishment wouldn’t be that bad, and while being punished I could find some way to direct my anger at the punisher instead of myself for doing whatever it was that I was being punished for. Somehow as I would be sitting in detention writing sentences (and sentences and sentences), I could transfer my shame and sorrow for what I had done into anger at my teacher for making me write “I will not throw spit balls in class” 500 times (or more). So, in some ways, sometimes punishment was welcome, because in receiving punishment I didn’t have to fully accept for myself what I had actually done.
But forgiveness – now that was something completely different. Forgiveness was something to be feared, because in receiving forgiveness I would fully understand what I had done, and that I was being let off the hook. Sometimes forgiveness accompanied the punishment that I still had to incur, and that was even worse because then I had to endure the punishment (such as sentences, spankings, or sitting out recess), yet knowing that I had been forgiven I had to own up to what I had actually done.
Listen to a couple of verses from Psalm 130 – “If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared” (Psalm 130:3-4) It was difficult for me to relate “forgiveness” and “fear” that the author speaks of here until I really began to think about what forgiveness really means. To me, it really means that my “iniquities” and sins are washed away, and as I understand it in relation to Jesus Christ, He endures the punishment that was intended for me. That kind of love is something to revere, something to almost fear. I take that back – that kind of love isn’t something to fear, but the true understanding of all of our sins being forgiven is something to fear – because when we recognize how much we have been forgiven, we will recognize how much we are loved. Today, let us face forgiveness together, no matter what we have done.
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