Accepting God’s Forgiveness

There is a fallacy accepted by some Christians that once a believer falls from grace and backslides, he cannot return to the Master and be accepted as a child of the living God.

Such a belief is contrary to the spirit and teaching of Jesus. Peter betrayed Christ with oaths, yet he was fully restored into fellowship with him, and it is doubtful if there is a Christian who has not followed, to a greater or lesser degree, in the steps of Peter. If you are one of those Christians who has failed Christ Jesus, and now feel that you can never recapture your former spiritual state, then stop looking at your sin and, once again, ask for his forgiveness. Thank him for being able to abandon your past failures, and go forward into the future in the strength and power he supplies.

One of the factors that perhaps haunts you is that you have asked for divine forgiveness so frequently that it has almost become a meaningless habit. It seems too easy to pray “Forgive me,” and then to commit the same sins. The effectiveness of forgiveness in your life depends upon your sincerity to keep your eyes so fixed upon Jesus that he will become more real to you than that which has been your previous sin.

Bro David Yelulani (Banket, Zimbabwe)