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Greetings All,
March winds are still marching and flowers are springing forth from the soil. It’s a beautiful time unless of course you’re fighting the spring allergies.
This month I want to share a devotion I recently experienced. It begins with saying, “Jesus never considered anyone as too sinful to be forgiven. He welcomes even those who were despised by the rest of society.” The lesson is based on Luke 7:36-50.
We all fail to live as God tells us to live. Our sins hurt others, sometimes deeply. True believers long to be forgiven, both by God and by the person we have hurt.
In this story, a sinful woman was so desperate to find forgiveness that she dared to enter an important religious leader’s house. She was uninvited, unworthy, and unwelcome. In humility, she threw herself down before Jesus. She wept. Her tears fell on his feet, and she kissed his feet and dried the tears with
her hair. As she poured expensive perfume on his feet, the scent filled the room. Other people may or may not forgive us when we have wronged them. But when we throw ourselves down in humility at the feet of Jesus with a heart that is broken over our sins, he does not push us away. He says to us, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The woman in this story had lived a very sinful life and had committed great evil in the sight of God. Why do you think Jesus forgave her? Because Jesus had compassion on her and she was humbly repentant. Whether her sins were great or not he forgave her.
Do you feel unworthy to be called a God’s child? We can all feel unworthy to be called a child of God and for the love of God. But his love never waivers or changes. Why or why NOT? If you confess your sins to Jesus, will he forgive you? Confession and repentance are the most important things we are called to do. He has promised to forgive us and his promises are trustworthy. What does this story teach us about God’s willingness to forgive us? He is always ready to forgive. How should we respond to that forgiveness? In truth and humility.
Enjoy the love of God at every level,
Pastor Kathi Kraus