When you hear the word forgiven? What does that mean to you? The word forgiveness is denotative, it literally means what it means.

To forgive means according to the dictionary – to grant pardon for your actions, to no longer hold resentment towards that person. But most of all, to no longer have an account for that person’s actions.

However, we have the tendency as humans to take the word forgiveness and alter the meaning in a way that it connotative, the word forgiveness goes from the dictionary definition to our own personal definition.

I guess its because of our experiences, like when someone says they forgive you – they don’t actually forgive you. Or they forgive you but you have do something in return. Like, you scratch my back (these are the things that will make me happy/get over it/ see you differently) and I scratch your back (you want forgiveness). Or sometimes we ourselves don’t believe in the idea of forgiveness because we have this mindset, that forgiveness has terms and conditions applied. We don’t believe it can ever carried out willingly.

And I feel like some of you reading this, have experienced the feeling of not being forgiven by God. Even when God is saying I forgive you.  I remember one of my teachers in my final year of highschool, last year described our perception of forgiveness to be like whiteout.

We make a mistake like this and then we white it out. But then we have this urge to actually lift the piece of paper towards the light or sometimes bring close to our eyes to make sure that we can’t see the crossed out words. And then we flip over and we still the shadow of the original sentences that were wrong.

But God’s forgiveness is not like that. When he forgives you, he actually forgives you. There is not thing on Earth that you have done, say, hear, see, smell, touch or feel that can be so overbearing God cannot accept. There is nothing on Earth that Jesus take away, cannot carry on that cross for us in order for us to be free.

You might hear some people keep bringing up your past, you might hear them call you names, you might hear them remind of who you used to be. But let me tell you something. You are NO LONGER THAT PERSON. You are a new creation. It is written in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new”

You say to yourself, I don’t feel like I am forgiven. How do I know if I am forgiven. How are you going to know what God says about if you don’t read his word.

John 8:36 – this one of my favourite verses. “If the Son of Man sets you free, you are free indeed”

YOU ARE NO LONGER THAT PERSON

The thing is, we need to stop listening to those who don’t speak life into us. We’ve got to listen to the one who created us, gave us a purpose, chose to have a relationship with us and loves us unconditionally.

We need to listen to the one who knew before I was born.

Jeremiah 1:5  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you”

We need to listen tot he one who knows who I am going to become “before you were born I set you apart”

We need to listen to the one who has called me by my name! His beloved.

You are forgiven, I don’t even believe and don’t think for one second that he’s going to push you aside. You might feel like you don’t deserve it but that’s grace.

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the results of works, so that none may boast”

You don’t have to work for it, He extends his love and grace without batting an eyelash. You being his child, his daughter – is a title that cannot be stripped away or revoked at all.

You are FORGIVEN!