The Freedom of Forgiveness!

If you ever want to read the Bible but are unsure of where to begin, the gospels are always a great place to start.  Or you could Go Eat Pop Corn! That is, read Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians =)  For about the past week, I've been reading through Galatians.  There are so many good thoughts inspired by Paul as I read his letter to the Galatians, but the one that has been really inspiring to me is when Paul talks about life before and after the coming of Christ.

"Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.  So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith." Galatians 3:23-24

Throughout this letter, Paul really emphasizes life before and after Christ, so it definitely got me thinking.  What if Christ never came?  First of all, we would still be under the law..."locked up".  We would have no forgiveness, we would have to pay for every little and big mistake we made...we would have no hope!  Secondly, we wouldn't have proof of God's crazy, incredible love for us.

Imagine a world in which you had no forgiveness.  Think about the mistakes you make, the sins you commit on a daily basis.  What if, after you made a wrong, there was no chance that you would be forgiven?  How hopeless and depressing would that be?  We are human.  We are going to screw up, that's just how it works.  But thankfully, Christ came and paid the price of our sins (BIG and small!) for each of us personally.  So now, we not only have an amazing example of how to forgive and how to love unconditionally but we also receive those things for ourselves.  Christ offers us forgiveness so that we are not slaves to the law and he has proven that he loves us unconditionally because we are more precious than his own life!

Now when we screw up, we can receive forgiveness.  We are saved not by our perfection but by our faith.  How crazy awesome is that?  It's so freeing!  When we mess up, we can still have hope.  We can try again to become a better version of ourselves.  And that is definitely something we can thank God for!

Need something else to think about?  If Jesus' dieing on the cross meant only saving you, he would still do it.  Believe it or not, he loves you that much.

Until next time,
Mel