Tuesday Truth - The Road To Forgiveness

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

                     Isaiah 43:25

Three years ago I lost my son, Brayden, at the grocery store. It was unfortunately the really bad kind where all shoppers heard this over the speakers: “Code Blue!  Code Blue! Attention all Wal-Mart Associates, we are in lockdown. We have a missing child. Boy, age 4, blond hair, red shirt, navy shorts.” Yep. I know. Mom of the year award right here!  I would have dressed up for the occasion had I known. In case you’re wondering, Brayden thought it would be fun to play hide and seek with me…but forgot the slight detail of telling me he was playing this game. And boy did he play well. We (as in myself and the surrounding employees AND managers – enter face palm here!) finally found him down an aisle tucked behind some boxes. Brayden, of course, has never let me forget it. To this day, when we drive into the parking lot, without fail, he says, “Hey mom, remember when you lost me here?”  This situation reminds me of our road to forgiveness, or more so, what it is not.  I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful that I serve a God that doesn’t hold my sins against me. That doesn’t continue to remind me of the times I’ve fallen short. That once I ask for forgiveness, that’s it. It’s forgiven…forgotten!  King David spoke of this truth in Psalm 51:7 after he committed adultery.  “Cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”  Hyssop branches were used by the Israelites to place the blood of the lamb over their doors ways. This act saved them from death and secured their release from slavery. When we ask for forgiveness, it not only cleanses our hearts and repairs the separation we made with God, but it also releases us from the sin that keeps us in slavery. It makes us pure again, without blemish. Is there a sin that you are holding on to? Give it to God so He can break your chains and give you freedom!

Heavenly Father, bring to light the sin(s) that keep me captive, that keep me from drawing closer to you.  Thank you for sending your Son to come and save me from my sins, and that those sins are forever forgotten.  Amen.