Gleanings – Forgiveness is the Beginning of the Life You’ve Always Wanted
Advent 3, December 17, 2012
2 Peter 1:1-11
“ . . . by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature.”
We were created in the image of God. Is it any surprise that our Maker is trying to restore us to it? Sure we don’t become God. But to the extent that we are transformed, we partake of the divine nature. This is more evidence that God is pleased to meet us where we are but not satisfied to leave us there.
There is so much more to our life in Jesus than fire insurance. Having saved us, He would gladly heal and restore us. He would make us effective and fruitful. That is if we would let him.
We tend to be blind and shortsighted about what it is he wants to achieve in us. Why? What is the greatest obstacle to growth? In biblical terms, man “has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.” Little happens in us when we have forgotten the magnitude of what God has done for us. The apostle John says that we love because he first loved us. In the absence of being loved we don’t love, at least not well.
A friend once lamented the absence of fruit in his life. “Why is there not more?” The first place to examine is the extent to which we have experienced the forgiveness of sins. I doubt the relationship is one to one, but there is a corollary. If we have not experienced the former, there will not be any of the latter.
Being forgiven bears fruit. Be forgiven. Accept that you are a sinner and the forgiveness of sins. Open this gift on Christmas!