When God Forgave Us // Forgive and Forget, Part 3

We all know that we need to forgive people. That's the theory, But let's now put the shoe on the other foot and talk about God's forgiveness. Does He really need to forgive us? Really? Forgiveness is one of those fluffy words that quite often we pay very little attention to. But when you think about it, it's pretty obvious that without forgiveness, we can't have effective relationships. Without forgiveness on a daily basis between husband and wife a marriage falls apart. And they do in epidemic proportion. Without forgiving our work colleagues for their shortcomings and failures, workplaces become a sieving bed of politics and strife. And you know, they are. We can't do anything really effective in a relationship when there's resentment and strife. Forgiveness is the first and only real step towards really dealing with issues. But what about God? I mean, if God's God, why is forgiveness really such a big deal for him? Surely none of us is really that bad. For me this whole issue of God forgiving us is one of the toughest issues I've ever had to get my mind around. Now I'm the first to admit I have faults and mistakes. Absolutely. And you can too. We all say, "None of us is perfect." But if there is a God. If God is God, all powerful, all loving. Why doesn't He just look at me and say, "Well there's a guy who's trying to live a good life. He's not perfect, but hey, who is? He's in. Heaven, eternal life. This guy is trying to live a good life. He's good enough." Have you ever wondered that? I mean, come on God, if you make the rules, if you can do whatever you want, why don't you just accept me for who I am. And yet, we turn around and we watch the evening news. You know, the latest drunk driver who's killed a young kid. The latest sex abuse scandal, the latest corporate executive who's taken a short-term unauthorised loan and neglected to pay it back. And something rises up inside us . You know, they should be punished. That drunk driver who walked out of the pub and got in his car and ran over that kid. He deserves to be locked up for life. That's our reaction isn't it? Are you with me so far? On the one hand, we all have in-built innate sense of justice when it comes to other people. On the other hand, when it comes to us, to you and me, we want to rationalise our mistakes, explain away our selfishness, ignore some of the destruction that's left in our wake. I remember thinking, well that's all well and good. I'm not a drunk driver who's killed a kid. I'm not a murderer or rapist. I'm not any of those things, so why should God have to forgive me? I'm just human. Hmm. But imagine. Imagine if His standard is one of perfect love. A love that never fails. A love that never stops searching for, caring for us. What if this God has a love so wide, so wide, so deep for us that we can never fathom it. Just imagine you go outside at night away from the smog and the light of the city and you look up at the sky and you see all the stars of heaven lighted above, and God says to you, "Compared to the vastness of the universe that I've created for you, you are so much more important. Those things are just a drop in the ocean in my heart. I love you. I love you with a perfect love." Imagine if that's the standard that God applies. Now let's apply the same innate sense of justice that we feel when we're watching the evening news set against this standard of perfect love. And anything short of that perfect love, well, it just falls short in this deep and mighty Father-heart of God. There are two things. There is love and there's justice. Both need to be satisfied. It's in our nature. So why wouldn't it be in God's nature? If we really, truly love someone, we won't sweep their selfishness, their failures, their rejections, their alienations, their addictions, their anger, their resentment, their hatred – we won't sweep those things under the carpet. If we really love someone, we'll do whatever it costs. You know when we look at God and we say, "Well why doesn't God just accept me the way I am? Why doesn't He just accept me and give me eternal life and say, 'Hey, this person is human?'" When we look at God like that, we're judging God by the wrong standard. We really need to judge God, if I can use that term, by the standard of His perfect love. A love so great that He would send His Son Jesus Christ, the most valuable person in His life, and allow Him to be beaten, to be spat on, to be abused, to be nailed to a cross to die for you and me. God is a just God, and justice needs to be satisfied. But God is a God of grace, a God of love. And when He looks at you, when He looks at me, His heart just overflows with love. There are no words to describe this. And so He sent Jesus His Son to die on a cross for me so He can look at me, He can look at you and say, "There's a person who has placed their faith in my Son. There is person who has said, 'I fall short of the glory of God. I fall short of God's standard of perfect ...