Forgiveness and New Life
By Mark Davies
Having a shower at the end of a hot dirty work shift feels great, doesn’t it? We’re ready to face people and relationships again. Have you ever had comments like, ‘Gee you scrub up well, I can hardly recognise you’ or “You look like a new man?’ Imagine being able to clean the inside as well as we can clean the outside. Although others see what’s on the outside, we know and feel what’s inside – and it isn’t cleansed by having a good scrub. God also looks on the inside – in our hearts.
King David’s sin was known by the whole nation and weighed heavily upon him. In Psalm 51, he cried out to God, ‘Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin … wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow …. create in me a clean heart, O God’. God the Father ‘met’ King David as he confessed his sins and looked for forgiveness. He was forgiven by God and the people of the nation, and He forgave himself. We know this because of the restoration that we read about in his life. God doesn’t just wipe the slate clean so we can start from scratch. His power is at work in our lives. In the process of forgiveness, this power works so amazingly that we actually go forward and are better off than we were before. As David humbled himself before God and his people, God enabled the son that was born from David’s sin to be the next king and leader of God’s people. This son, Solomon, is actually noted as the wisest man who ever lived. King David’s strength was in His God who forgave him, not in any shame that could empower him to greatness.
It seems one of the great privileges in life is to be forgiven. Just think about it for a moment. Consider you childhood and consider your home circumstances now; we all need forgiveness. We also need to be able to forgive ourselves. This can be one of the worst experiences in life – being left in the prison house where you can’t forgive yourself. God also wants to meet you and me just as He met King David. He wants to cleanse us on the inside, so we know we are clean and know the power of His life at work in our lives, not the leverage of shame to keep us on the straight and narrow but the power of His life to take us forward in His will and purposes. What an amazing reality – that God works all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). His mercy and loving kindness are reaching to all of us, calling all of us to know the power of His life in us so that we can forgive others, be forgiven by others and forgive ourselves. He wants you to go forward and do His will, not be hindered by sin and guilt.
The Bible says, ‘much more shall the blood of Christ … cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?’ Heb 9:14. This phrase, ‘much more’, almost sounds like some of our television commercials. Interestingly, the Bible here is talking about a cleaning agent. This cleaning agent can’t be bought: it’s actually the result of a free gift. Jesus has given His life as a free gift to all mankind. He died and His life flowed out with His blood. This precious blood continues to flow for forgiveness to this day. More than that, it flows to bring cleansing, healing and restoration. God sees all things, including our faults and failings and our efforts to improve. He wants to meet each of us in a context where washing for forgiveness, and cleansing from sin’s corruption, can be utterly effective. While we live and breathe, we will continue to need this washing. That’s why it is so important that we find fellowship among God’s people. This is the context where the blood of Christ flows bringing cleansing and forgiveness in every direction.
