Today's Scripture Reading (July 6, 2024): 1 John 2
Near New York,
there is a cemetery with a grave with just one word inscribed upon its
headstone: Forgiven. The stone contains no name and no date of birth or death.
The stone is plain and undecorated by the sculptor's art. There is no epitaph,
and the stone is without a flattering eulogy. All the gravestone has is that single
word: Forgiven.
I have to admit
that I have tried to figure out where the gravestone might be and who it is
that is buried there, but an internet search revealed nothing beyond the story,
which is repeated in several places. My guess is that the person buried in that
grave felt like someone whose name did not carry a positive meaning, at least
not at that time and within the circles of those who knew the person. Like
Ebeneezer Scrooge, they understood the depth of their sin and the reality that
the only thing that matters is that, in the end, they confessed their depravity
and asked for God's forgiveness. And so, while the person might be lost to the ravages
of time, the sentiment remains; the person reached the end of his or her life,
realizing that the only thing that mattered was forgiveness.
Forgiven is the most extraordinary description
that can be said about any of us or written on any of our gravestones. The eternal truth
I rely on daily is that I am forgiven.
Nothing else really matters. However,
it is also not a form of forgiveness available only to me; anyone can receive
it.
Forgiveness is the initial building block in
the rebuilding of Garry. First, God has to take care of what is already there.
Not far from my home, there are a couple of houses that burned down about a
year ago. The place was left empty for a while, but it didn't take long for a
chain link fence to be built around the property, and there was a sign on the
barrier warning that the demolition of the building's remains was in progress.
That is precisely what forgiveness entails. It
starts with the demolishing of what is. The old must be removed first before
anything new can be built. Paul seems to talk about this throughout his letters
to the churches. Don't you know that you have taken off the old flesh or the
old man and put on the new? Don't you know that you no longer live by the
flesh, but now you live by the Spirit? Don't you know that you are forgiven?
That what was here before has been taken away. You don't have to live up to it
anymore. I get that we don't do that well. We want to make people pay for the
past. But that is our problem; it has never been God's. Forgiven means gone. It
means that the old has been taken away, and the new is what is left. It is the
first building block in the process of building something new.
Here's the
deal. Whatever it is that You have done,
God forgives. I have friends who say, "Great, but I really don't need
that. I haven't done anything
wrong. But it is good to know that if I
need it, God forgives." It amazes me that these same friends then justify
their behavior. I sometimes believe that we know we are in trouble, but we have
this pride thing inside of us that says I want to explain my actions rather
than admit that I need God's forgiveness.
There is a story,
and I don't know if it is true, but let me tell you anyway. It is about a Pastor that was involved in a
building project. The church was doing good things, and the ministry was
growing, making the building project essential, but the work and the fundraising
were tearing this Pastor apart from the inside.
One day, a
gentleman appeared at his door. He told
the Pastor, "I know the good things you are doing and want to help. How much money do you need?" It was an
open-ended question. The Pastor knew
that the total bill that had yet to be paid on the building project was just
over 3 Million dollars, but he also knew that he was at a crisis point and
$500,000 had to be paid at the end of the month, and the church hadn't even raised
half of the money. So, the Pastor
apologetically muttered something about 300,000. The man sat down at the desk,
wrote out a cheque for the entire amount, $300,000, and then walked out the
door. Can you imagine the praise that
went on in that office, especially after the cheque cleared the bank?
A little later,
the Pastor heard a story about a billionaire philanthropist traveling around
giving away millions of dollars to charitable organizations. Can you imagine
the despair as the Pastor realized that the whole building project could have
been paid for had he only asked?
I sometimes think
we are doing the same thing with our spiritual lives. Here, God comes to each of us and tells us
that he is willing to forgive us; I am willing to cover you totally with my
grace. And we ask for very little, making flimsy excuses for the rest of our
lives. Well, everybody's doing it; I
sometimes feel guilty, but it's really not that important.
God has forgiven
me of everything, some stuff so big that you might not believe me capable of
it, some stuff so small that it is hardly worth mentioning, all of it confessed
and taken care of by God. Our lives as Christians begin with a moment of
forgiveness, not a list of deeds we have done to be worthy of God's
forgiveness. I don't have to prove to God that I am worthy enough to be forgiven.
He is the one who has stood over me, telling me how much I am worth to him. He
is willing to write a check for the whole process and forgive us completely.
I want that grave
marker because when the time comes for me to die, it is all that will really
matter about my life. Jesus has atoned and forgiven me for my sin. And he has
done the same for yours as well.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 John
3
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