Because of Jesus, because of His Spirit, we are to believe that God is more ready to hear than we are to pray, more ready to answer than we are to believe. And this is most intensely true when it comes to our sins and prayers for forgiveness: “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance” (Ps. 32:5-7).
Notice that it is particularly the certainty of forgiveness that is the cause of everyone praying. When you know how God loves to answer the prayer for forgiveness, it makes you want to pray way more. The immediate answer to the honest, humble prayer for forgiveness is songs of deliverance. This is not God, the Great Fussy Librarian, reminding you of how overdue your confession is. This is God the Jail-Breaker, God The Prison-Breaker, the God of the Great Escape, the God of Getaways, rejoicing to break you out of that guilt and shame, singing while He does it, singing songs of deliverance.
And humility believes this; humility trusts the Word of God. And the Word is this, ‘if you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.’ And how does God forgive? Right away, all the away, and with a huge grin on His face. God doesn’t wallow around in your sins, and He doesn’t you to wallow there either. When you honestly acknowledge your sin to him and ask for forgiveness, He has already forgiven you. Humility trusts that His Word is true and simply moves on. Arrogance and pride insist that we are really big stuff, and our big sins have made a big mess. Yes, that’s true, but God’s grace is way bigger.
So this is what we celebrate at this meal. Your sins are forgiven. We celebrate complete relief, complete acceptance, complete peace and joy. The words are “come and welcome.” And even if your heart is still troubled, even if there is still a great struggle inside of you with sin, the simple question is this: what do you want more? Do you want Christ? Then come. Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.
Photo by Finding Dan | Dan Grinwis on Unsplash
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