Yes, It's Real!
For those of you who know me, you may remember that I hate going to the doctor. And today, I had my quarterly visit to the dermatologist to check for problematic areas that could lead to skin cancer. Since I have horrible skin problems anyway, this is something that I have become somewhat used to the past several years, but I always dread the trek to the doctor’s office. To cut to the chase, I must have had 20 abnormal areas on my face and head that needed to be frozen with liquid nitrogen, but no biopsies and no skin cancer.
Doc’s a great guy and all, but still, I rather not have to visit his office every 3 months. And then, in the morning, at 7:30 am, I have my semi-annual blood test in anticipation of my six month check-up with the internist next week on Thursday morning at 8:30 am. So, you can see that I am a little amped up until all these things are over and the reports come back that I am in good health. Janet doesn’t have the same issue with doctors, but it has always been a problem for me. So, on my way to my appointments, I usually think about my day, but more specifically, I think about different Scriptures, and I am always on the look-out for stories for this blog. Well, this morning I got one!
On my way to the dermatologist, I happened to be following a car that was traveling rather slowly. An older woman was at the wheel, and although I was not in a hurry, I was anxious to get the whole doc thing over, so I was kind of preoccupied. Anyway, I was catching up to her as she was slowing down getting ready to make a right turn, about a mile from the office I was heading to. And when I got stuck behind her at a traffic light, I looked at her license plate, and saw “GOD 4GVS”. Well, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to decipher that one.
God forgives – something that we intellectually know, but sometimes we need to be reminded. That’s the basic story of the whole Bible. Because God originally created Earth, the perfect sanctuary for Man and He intended to commune with Man forever. Unfortunately, the whole Garden of Eden thing ruined that plan. So God, in His infinite grace, provided another way for Man to spend eternity with Him; through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In other words, God sent his Son to save the world and to take all the sin of the world upon His shoulders, on the cross. And by accomplishing this, God created a way for Man to be forgiven and once again join Him for eternity.
And, the model of God’s love for His Son is the model of love that Christ has shown us; and the model of love that we are to exhibit to one another. The great commandment is “Love one another as I have loved you…”, according to Christ.
The verse tonight is from Col. 3:13, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Pretty much says it all, don’t you think? The world would be a better place if we could all learn this lesson, but our human pride usually gets in the way. But that’s another post….
So my encouragement tonight is to let you know that God is a God of forgiveness. There is no way that we, in our fallen state, can be found holy and worthy of standing in the presence of God. But the sacrifice of Christ, once and for all, forever, has provided a way for us to again be united with God for all eternity. There is nothing that you can do to separate you from the love of God. And nothing that can’t be forgiven by God. So even if you think you have been a bad person, or done wrong things, or that you are beyond redemption, that’s not what God tells us. Because you are forgiven. My prayer is that you believe that! Because God sent His only Son that whosoever believes in Him shall never die, but have everlasting life. And God is a God of truth, so you can depend on it. Have a great day with the Lord, eternally……