Rev. Richard Smith
December 12, 2022
Isaiah 12:1-2 In that day you will say: ‘I will praise you, LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me.
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.’
At the heart of this Advent season and the Christian gospel is the truth that God loves us (as I previously illuminated) and that He is ever willing to forgive us. We all want to be freed from the weight of our sinful selves; to find rest in knowing there is a way beyond our troubled spiritual selves.
God desires to forgive us; there is no debate on this central truth. It is His very nature to want us to know both love and forgiveness. Just knowing that God moves toward us offering us the opportunity to experience His grace and forgiveness is freeing in itself.
Advent, then, comes to remind us that the love and forgiveness of God is the heart of the person and message of this Jesus of Nazareth. In Jesus we experience the truth that none of us are so removed from God or so dark within the soul that we cannot find our way to God and His love. We will never be so far removed from God or his desire for our lives that we are beyond the promise and possibility of forgiving grace.
Throughout the Gospel accounts, we find Jesus time and time again reminding folks of this wondrous gift – that God in his love for us chooses to forgive us; to relieve from us the burden of our misdoings.
Now, obviously, God’s grace and forgiveness, while freely extended to us, only come to fruition within our souls as we acknowledge our need of God’s grace and admit our spiritual flaws and moral failings (repentance). In other words, God’s forgiveness is only effected when we come to grips with our wayward selves, lay such before our loving and forgiving God, and then choose to let him empower us to a new way of living.
