FAITH AND FORGIVENESS IN ABUNDANCE

When God saves us, He showers us with an abundance of gifts. We are too new in Christ to comprehend the magnitude and value of them. This is similar to the way that one-year-olds cannot really appreciate their birthday presents. They cannot understand their material worth or their usefulness.

As children grow however, they are better able to appreciate the gifts that people give to them. In the same way, as we mature in Christ, God’s abundant blessings become more significant to us. Two of His gifts, which have grown more precious to me this year, are faith and forgiveness. I want to focus on these two gifts here.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (NIV)

Faith is a gift God gives to us so that we can believe in Him. If you are a Christian, and God is now actively working in your life, you know that God is there. Believing in God is not a struggle for you.

But have you ever given up praying for something after a number of years because God has not answered your prayers? I know that I have. I have even justified doing this by explaining that I was not blaming God for not doing His part in this situation; I was blaming the people involved for not changing their behavior.

There is no excuse for giving up, however. When we stop praying about difficulties in our lives we have begun to lose faith. We have stopped believing that God can and will do miracles in our lives.

James 1:5-6 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” (NIV)

These verses have been convicting me lately. Therefore, I have been asking God to help me grow in my faith, so that I can trust Him in the areas of my life where I have previously doubted Him.

As a result, God has blessed me abundantly. He has given me guidance and a fresh perspective for these concerns. I am now seeing difficult situations changed that I did not think possible. God wants us to have more than just the faith that saves us. He wants us to have faith in abundance.

Forgiveness is a gift that follows closely after faith. Once we come to God through Christ, we need Him to wash away our sins. God gives us this gift when we first repent of our sins, and many times daily, as we live out our Christian lives.

In the past year I have done several things which I now grieve over with godly sorrow. If anyone had come to me and told me ahead of time that I would behave in these ways, I would never have believed them. However, I have now learned to never trust my own heart, but to ask God to keep it pure.

Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” God has forgiveness in abundance. He is always ready to give it to those who seek Him for it with a humble heart. (NIV)

The gift of forgiveness is the one that Jesus paid for with His own flesh and blood. Every year that we spend in God's presence should make us more appreciative of the sacrifice He made for us. This in turn should cause us to realize how unworthy we are of such an awesome sacrifice. All of the abundant blessings we have in Christ flow out of His redemptive work.

Many books have been written on how to live the abundant Christian life. Yet, God has given His children all they need to live a spiritual life of abundance. The more we mature in Christ, the more clearly we should be able to see what is ours in Christ. Which of His gifts are you growing in right now?