"Healing From Forgiveness" (Part 1)

O Lord God Almighty, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Israel. O God, look with favor upon the king, our protector! Have mercy on the one you have anointed. A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. For the Lord God is our light and protector. He gives us grace and glory. No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right. O Lord Almighty, happy are those who trust in you. (Psalm 84:8-12 NLV).

In order to experience the healing of God’s forgiveness, the first essential for us to recognize is that we have been chosen by grace. Just as the Lord had chosen Israel and had rescued her from the Egyptians, the Caananites, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians like a stick is snatched from a campfire, so He has rescued us. Israel had done nothing to earn God’s favor. Their salvation was an act of His mysterious grace. So is ours.

We live in a world of performance. In 1988, the Houston School district nominated bus driver Lillie Baltrip for a safe-driving award. As she was driving a busload of her colleagues to the awards ceremony, she turned a corner too sharply and flipped the bus over sending herself and sixteen others to the hospital. Now, do you think she still got the award? No! Even though she was accident-free for a whole year, she ended up with a poor performance. Most airlines will give you a free seat, but only if you earn the advantage miles. Colleges and universities all across our land will give out diplomas this May, not because they’re a loving institution, but because the students have earned them. The Boy Scouts of America aren’t in the habit of handing out honorary Eagle Scout badges. Our world is perpetuated by performance. Acceptance, acknowledgment and applause are earned through achievement. Satan uses that same mentality to accuse the Christian. He tries to convince us that God will only award those who perform well. Heaven is reserved only for the upper-level saints. And so, when we remember some past sin or present failure, we feel condemned by our own lack of performance.

But the Scriptures say something completely different. In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul writes that "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast." In other words, salvation is a free gift of God, not a trophy that we can earn because we do well in life. In 2 Timothy 2:9, Paul reminds us that God has saved us, not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace. In Titus 3:5, we learn again that we have been saved, not because of any righteous things we have done, but because of the mercy of God.

God didn’t choose any of us because of our accomplishments, our manners, our net worth, our intelligence, loving attitude or good looks. Rather, He chose us out of His grace. That is, we were destined for God’s righteous judgment but God chose to rescue us from His wrath. Every Christian is a burning stick snatched away by the righteous Branch. Mark Twain once wrote that “heaven must be based on grace because if it were based on loyal performance, we’d be rejected, only our dogs would get in.” So, when the Devil begins to accuse, remind him and remind yourself that you are a sinner. But just as your performance didn’t gain you a seat in heaven, neither can your failure cause you to lose what God has given by His wonderful grace.