Remitted part 1
This one takes some getting into, but we've got a few days for each Rant series so that works out. I want to start with the end and then work backwards. 1 John 2:12, "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake." Realistically, that's all I need to say. Our sins ARE forgiven. That doesn't need to happen. That has already happened. It happened on the cross. It happened when Jesus took away the sin (unbelief) of the world. And He did that by giving us something (someONE, Himself, His love) to believe in. He told us the truth so that we could stop being a slave to the lie. Showed us the truth--that God is love and He loves you--by laying His life down for us. Forgiveness of sins. So important. Because when we understand that our sins are forgiven, we can move past them. We can, as the book of Hebrews says, lay aside the sin and the weight that so easily besets us. And that's a true statement. It's easy to get caught up in things. To let things snowball. To make mountains out of molehills. I always say, "Feel what you feel, but don't let it control you." Emotions aren't bad. Emotional responses sometimes are. So we can't bottle that stuff up (eventually it WILL explode), but we can't let it lash out either. We have to find healthy ways to release that stuff. To deal with what we're feeling. Hurting people hurt people, right? So we need to let God heal us. Or, more accurately, accept the healing that He has already done for us. But here's where I wanted to get to today, and to really dig into for the next few days. Jesus said, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained" (John 20:23). Now, to be clear about what we're talking about, the word "remit" is number 863 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "to send (forth): - cry, forgive, forsake, lay aside, leave, let (alone, be, go, have), omit, put (send) away." I think that's important. Because Jesus wasn't saying, "If you don't forgive someone they won't be forgiven." It's not up to us to decide who is forgiven and who isn't. Jesus took away the sin of the WORLD. He did it for all of us when He was raised up from the earth on the cross and drew all of us into Him. What He was saying was, we have the power to, in a very real sense, release people from the sins they've already been forgiven of. That might be a little confusing, but that's why I want to hit it hard for the next few days. Because if God forgave someone, but you're still holding a grudge against them... do you think they feel forgiven? We are God's representatives on this earth. "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18). We are the spout where the glory comes out. We have so much power. What we say and what we do matters. We can help people feel the freedom of God. The forgivness of God. The LOVE of God. By judging righteous judgment. Look at Psalm 149:9, "To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD." Judging righteous judgment is simply executing the judgment that God passed down! Not, "you need to be forgiven," but, "You ARE forgiven!"