Forgiven #8—Forgiven Praise

If you should mark iniquities, O Eternal, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you might be feared. Psalm 130:3–4

Everything you do, Heavenly Father, shows me how magnificent you are; but especially your forgiveness! Forgiving me does not make you appear weak. Instead, it displays your great wisdom and power. It demonstrates your love and mercy. For you wisely devised a righteous way to overcome all the obstacles to your desire to do me good. Then you graciously sent your beloved Son to live among us so he could take on himself the wrath that should have been mine. Now, because of your delight in the love he showed for your glory, you pardon all who come to you in his name. Because you have cleared a way to do me good with your whole heart and soul, I am comforted to know that your expression of love to me will be immense. Because I am forgiven in Christ, I look forward to inheriting the infinite riches of your grace—forever. Your forgiveness strongly encourages me to pursue the fullness of joy a relationship with you can bring! What a delight it is to experience the unsearchable love of the God from whom I deserved unquenchable hate! There is no God like you, “who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellion of the remnant of his possession; who does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in being extravagantly kind.” How eagerly I await the Lord Jesus who offered himself for the sins of many, and who will return with the salvation he righteously purchased with his blood for people from every tribe, tongue, society and nation. Amen.