A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Proverbs 25v11
Over the past weeks we have considered the importance of reconciliation and forgiveness in our relationships with each other, but more important is to be reconciled to God.
In the second book of Samuel chapter 12v13, we read how when King David was convicted of his great sin after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then conspired to have her husband murdered, it said: “Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.” He recognised that when we sin against our fellow man or woman we primarily sin against the Lord. Psalm 51 records the way he was reconciled to God: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me”. David knew that his and our God is a God of LOVE and if we repent of our sin, we have the confidence that God will forgive because He is a God of mercy and compassion.
1 John 1v9 says: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. David also understood that all of us are BORN sinners. In Romans 3v23 it says: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.“ But the good news is that because God is a God of love we know He will forgive us if we repent and personally submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ – as we read in Romans 10v9: “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”.
It’s so easy to do, but because we are all naturally proud, it is also hard as it requires a humbling of heart to submit to the Lordship of Christ. But Christ promises that if we are reconciled to Him, we will be set free from guilt and turmoil in our souls. John 14v27 says: “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”
God Bless
Graeme Greenwood