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Forgiveness.
A very big theme and a very real issue.
This term in one of my fabulous bible studies, we are studying Tim Keller's book The Prodigal God. I am not sure if you have read this book but it is truly a profound and wonderful read. I decided to listen to some of the sermons Keller has preached that are linked to his book. The first was on the topic of forgiveness.
The prodigal God is a book that grows out of the The prodigal Son story that Jesus told in the New Testament.
A profound and wonderfully challenging story in the bible.
One of the themes of that flows out from this story is the theme of forgiveness.
If you read the story in Luke 15, you will see a father who not only patiently waits for a son who has rejected and shamed him but more than that, he rushes to meet him when the son finally returns. This Father then forgives the son of the debt that the son holds.
The thing is, what happens to the debt that is owed to the father. Where does it go. Is it brushed aside or simply forgotten?
Keller explains what happens by saying that the Father actually forgives his son by absorbing the debt himself.
This is powerful and has deep meaning for the Christan life. If I am to forgive those who have hurt me and or offended me, I am called to absorb the pain and the hurt - absorb the debt so I can set the person free from the debt they owe me.
WOW!
How is this possible?
The spirit of the Living God within those of us who call ourselves Christians is able to accomplished this kind of real forgiveness.
This kind of forgiveness is open to me. God has absorbed the debt I owe him by bearing my sin on the cross. He has forgiven me the debt I owe him.
He is truly glorious and beautiful.
He has set me free.
I am able to set others free!!
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