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A Disciple of Jesus Is Forgiving
Brian Mashburn
March 19, 2006
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Forgiven
It's still a really good question. A bunch of religious people in the time of Jesus asked it, and I still think all of us religious people need to ask it again today.
"Who can forgive sins but God alone?" - Mark 2:7
They were asking because they were having trouble believing that Jesus Christ had the authority to forgive. Most of us today have pretty much gotten over that. We are convinced Jesus does have the ability to forgive sins...just like God.
But the question still stands for us. "Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
The answer is...you can.
You can forgive sins just like God can. The capacity for unconditional love and forgiveness of absolutely any offense whatsoever resides inside of the new heart of every single solitary renewed-by-Christ human being.
Yes, it does. You have been chosen to carry around the very forgiveness that Christ forgave you with, right there within your chest, so that you can walk around giving it away at each and every opportunity. No matter how massive and grievous, no matter how small and subtle...you can forgive sin just like God.
Yes, you can. And if you are a disciple of Jesus, you must. As a matter of fact, if you have been touched by the life-changing blood of the Lamb, you won't be able to help yourself.
There is only one reason that a follower of Jesus can't forgive someone...and that would be because they don't grasp the magnitude and totality of their own forgiveness. They have disbelieved the height from which they themselves have fallen
Do you know? Do you believe? Have you been cleansed? Pardoned? Let off? Excused? Forgiven?