You Are Forgiven

by Ben Framstad

This Sunday was powerful. We talked about forgiveness for the Christian. We sometimes think when we come to Christ, we'll never have to ask for forgiveness again. Part of that is true - he forgave all our past, present, and future sins on the cross once and for all. To ask for more forgiveness would be to ask him to die again on the cross. I don't know about you, but I think I read somewhere that Jesus only had to die once to "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." (Hebrews 9:25, 26). So yes, asking for forgiveness again seems silly.

At the same time, we sometimes need to see where we've strayed and been rebellious and come running back to Jesus. It is only then that we can truly know Him, worship Him, fellowship with him, and fully appreciate the sacrifice that he made. In this sense, we do seek forgiveness on a regular basis, and THAT is what happened yesterday in the Sunday morning student service.

Nick brought the Word and God spoke through him to us. What a lot of us were covering up in our hearts, God was only getting ready to uncover. Yet if we were willing to uncover the sin ourselves that morning, God would be faithful to "cover" that offense with His grace. 

Finally, the message was capped off by a drama where one individual came on stage and danced to a song of forgiveness. This person first uncovered a broken mirror which had the word "SIN" smeared on it in red paint. It is only when we look at the mirror of our lives and take a good look at ourselves that we find ourselves broken in our sin. Then the individual went to another part of the stage and yanked off the drop cloth covering the cross. The cross is enough. Forgiveness is here. Wow, what a morning.

I hope everyone was able to look in the mirror yesterday and see what they needed to give to God. If you passed up the opportunity, it's never too late. Take time now, and then tell someone close the step that you made.