In Him we have…the forgiveness of sins… —Ephesians 1:7

Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.

Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm.

Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.

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Journal DJR
Good morning Lord,
Today, right now, I am grateful. Grateful for your salvation and atonement sacrifice that allows me to come into relationship with you and receive your love. Staying grateful, consciously grateful, as the challenges of life come my way … that is the challenge. I sometimes feel disconnected, and ungratefulness usually comes along with that. How can I hold onto the gratefulness more consistently?

There will be an ebb and flow. It’s natural and part of the human condition. After a busy schedule of being with people, I needed to get away and recharge and reconnect with my purpose and my power source. That’s what you are doing when you consciously re-connect. You wouldn’t need to reconnect if there had not been a disconnect. Life will do that to you. Expect it. But don’t live there. Reconnect with me. Make it part of your life structure. It is one of the few things that is safe to make a structure around.

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