I read this in My Utmost for His Highest this morning and then got the point reiterated in my Bible reading (I am in the midst of reading 2 Corinthians). I found it refreshing and encouraging after two weeks of messages on forgiveness.
Conviction of sin is one of the most uncommon things that ever happens to a person. It is the beginning of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict people of sin. And when the Holy Spirit stirs a person's conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not that person's relationship with others that bothers him but his relationship with God. The wonders of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven person who is truly holy. He proves he is forgiven by being the opposite of what he was previously, by the grace of God...This new life will reveal itself in conscious repentance followed by unconscious holiness, never the other way around. The foundation of Christianity is repentance. If you ever cease to understand the value of repentance, you allow yourself to remain in sin.
God continued to drive this point home as I read 2 Corinthians...
As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. Therefore we are comforted.
We cannot have the Gospel without forgiveness. The conviction we experience from the Holy Spirit is the start of the Gospel working itself out in our lives. This conviction leads to seeking forgiveness. Knowing we are forgiven enables us to live a life of holiness.
Do I have some deep wounds? Yup. Can I forgive despite that? Yup. I can do this, not in my own strength. I can do this because I am constantly reminded and convicted of my own sin. I am not a perfect person and any of the good that comes from me is only through the power of God - so I cannot even claim that on my own. How can I not choose to forgive when I myself have experienced such freedom in the forgiveness that comes from my Savior? My focus must be the cross. My focus must be on what is hindering my relationship with God. It is sinful and foolish for it to focus on someone else's lack of repentance. My heart is one of pleading with God that those who have hurt me would experience His love and forgiveness. True repentance and restoration cannot occur without it.
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