“He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19)
When Robbie and I were dating, I broke up with her because I didn’t think I was ready to make a long-term commitment. To make a long story short, it scared me to death to hear her tell me she loved me.
I realized several months after we broke up how much I really loved her. How could I have been so stupid to look at a gift from God like that and say, “No thanks”? I would never find anyone else like her.
My revelation brought panic with it. What if she wouldn’t take me back? What could I say to convince her that my change of heart was real?
I finally worked up the courage to call her and ask if I could drop by. “I have something I need to tell you,” I said.
I was so afraid she would say no, and while her response was far from warm, she told me I could come by, but just for a little while.
I decided to do the honorable thing. I begged her to take me back. I wasn’t ashamed to accept responsibility for my actions. I knew I had to be honest if I was to have any chance of falling back into her good graces. “If you take me back,” I promised her, “I’ll never leave you again”.
I was frightened by her response. All that sincerity didn’t get me as far as I thought it would. I had really hurt her and she told me as honestly as she could that she just didn’t know if she was willing to take the risk of getting hurt like that again.
Interestingly, when I left her that day, she gave me a hug unlike any I had ever had before, one that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I didn’t know when she would take me back, but I knew she still loved me. She just needed a little more time.
You know we all do some pretty stupid things that separate us from God just like my act of stupidity separated me from Robbie. It hurts God to the core. We don’t always realize at the time just how close sin can come to ruining the most important relationship we have–our relationship with the Lord Jesus—but the Bible reminds us that sin separates us from God.
I’m not proud of what I did to Robbie, but she forgave me for it, I learned from it, and it’s over. God’s the same way. In fact, the Bible says, “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:43) God literally forgets all about it. That’s one of the great mysteries of Christianity: An all-knowing God who can’t remember some of the things we did that hurt him the most.
I’ll tell you something else: When you admit to God how much you really regret what you’ve done and beg him to take you back, he may not be able to hug you like Robbie hugged me, but he’ll treat you like she now treats me—just like nothing ever happened. His forgiveness is immediate. That’s why the Bible says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
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