Forgiven, Loved, FreeSample

Trusting God’s Promises

A friend wanted me to try his city’s best fried chicken. On our way, I spotted a cardboard sign that claimed the "best fried chicken" in town was being sold from a fold out table in the carpark of a corner shop. It made me curious. Maybe this was the best chicken. Maybe my friend didn’t know the fried chicken scene in his city as well as he thought. Long story short, we tried both, and it turns out that the local friend knows better than a piece of cardboard.

Sometimes we have to weigh up two clashing claims and choose between them. On one hand, the Bible offers us promises about God’s willingness to forgive, about the comfort he offers people broken by sin, about his power to make us clean from all the filth we have indulged ourselves in. On the other hand, we are slower to forgive than God is. When people hurt us, it's hard for us to reconcile quickly and cheerfully. We imagine God sulks like we do. Which is true and which is like a cardboard sign, making up claims that quickly crumble?

Grass withers, flowers fade, and humans are fickle. But what God says will last forever. He does not change his mind, and he does not break his promises. He promised that whoever confesses their sin will be forgiven and cleansed. Forgiven means he does not hold it against us; we are fully reconciled with our Father. Cleansed means that we can be changed and set free from filthy habits. Both these claims rest on the faithfulness and justice of God–that he is consistent, trustworthy, and makes decisions that are fair, lawful, and bring about human flourishing.

The assurance that we are forgiven and cleansed first of all comes from trusting God’s character. Is he faithful and just? Will he do what he said? Will he require another payment for sin apart from Jesus’ sacrifice?

What do you do when you doubt that God will forgive you if you confess? Do you take the cardboard sign seriously, or do you choose to trust the unchanging word of God, even if it doesn’t feel easy?