By Greg Holt
What is the one thing you think people need to know about God? Have you ever thought about this?
How important do you think it is to know this one thing? I am going to say very important, life changing important.
I believe many would respond to this question with this answer, love is the most important thing about God. While the fact that God loves is extremely important…it is not the most important.
The one thing you need to know about God is this; God forgives. That is right…of utmost importance is the fact that God forgives.
Lets go back to love for a moment. God’s love is certainly a great thing, without it I would not be writing this today. God IS love, 1 John 4:8 but we need to remember that God loves all people. God loves the unrepentant sinner…but that particular person is not going to be in heaven without first repenting of sin.
Maybe some would say God’s great mercy, I am a big fan of God’s mercy let me tell you! In order to receive God’s mercy upon yourself, you first need to understand that you even need it!
Another good answer would be God’s grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us of God’s grace, grace that saves through faith. What is grace? Grace has several meanings in the Bible, but in the largest context and the one used in Ephesians, grace is receiving that which we do not deserve. However, in order to receive this amazing grace we must first realize that we are sinners in need of a Savior…and there is only one, Jesus Christ.
The one thing to understand above all others is God’s amazing forgiveness. The forgiveness of God enables us to receive all the other amazing and wonderful gifts of God.
Each person in this world needs to understand first that they have sinned, that no matter what…they have done wrong. Romans 3:23 informs us that we have all sinned, so it is not a question of whether or not we have done wrong things. Rather it is a question of “when are we going to realize that we need a Savior, One to forgive us of those wrongs”?
Matthew 5:48 tells us God’s standard which is perfection. How do we achieve perfection? We do not, in order to be perfect, we would have never committed a sin, not even one! God will never tell us to do anything we are not capable of. “Now wait a minute”, you are saying, you just said, “God tells us we have to be perfect and we cannot be”! True, God knows you cannot be perfect. This is where the “but” comes in, God does expect you to come to Him and ask for forgiveness!
When you go to God and confess your sinful state, you confess that you have done wrong and you have no way of “fixing” it, and you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior…then God can begin His work in you.
Forgiveness is the key, I ask God to forgive me; then accept Him as Lord and Savior and the Spirit of God enters into me and actually lives there! Then God begins His work, the work of changing my very nature…changing me into a new person. While true you and I will never be perfect here in this life time, you and I; we will be in the next life at the resurrection. You see God will make possible what He commanded…you will be perfect, just not in this lifetime. God is even now working within you, and me and that work will be completed and Matthew 5:48 will be ultimately fulfilled.
Without the forgiveness of God in your life, there can be no grace, no mercy, no eternal life with God. Oh you will live forever all right; without God’s forgiveness you will not be living forever with Him! This is no threat as some would like to make it out to be. What it is, is a warning, the wise should gain wisdom and go to Him and accept the forgiveness offered freely so that one can be free and clear of the penalty of the second death…eternal life without God.
You, me, all of us have no choice in the matter of sin…we all have done so. There can be no argument over this even among un-believers; we all know when we have done something wrong. That wrong thing is a sin in God’s eyes. We all DO have a choice however to accept or deny the Lord’s forgiveness.
Accept God’s forgiveness and live in harmony with God forever, deny His forgiveness and live in torment forever.
Let us dispense with this utter nonsense that God is a tyrant or unfair. God Himself came here and purchased this “forgiveness” for all of us. The only thing left to us is to accept it. Only a fool says there is no God…do not blame God if you are a fool, blame yourself.