Forgiveness: Indifferent vs. True

A French philosopher famously said (and I paraphrase): "Of course God forgives. That's his job." That is the attitude we often have about God and forgiveness (I ought perhaps only to speak for myself, but I would guess you, the reader, share with me in this). It is an attitude that fails to take into account who God is: that he is holy and just; that the sin we glibly take for granted he will forgive, is abhorred and despised by him; that by all rights we deserve not forgiveness but condemnation. Moreover, when we come to God with that mind-set, his forgiveness does little for us--it does not produce a good deal of gratitude (after all, how much gratitude do I feel toward the garbage truck driver when he is doing his job by collecting my trash?), nor does it motivate me to change. It leaves me indifferent, and feeds a contempt for God.

By contrast, true forgiveness involves a grasp, and an embrace, not only of the fact of forgiveness, but of the way that God forgives. At the heart of the gospel is the wonder that a righteous and holy God forgives. That when God forgives he does not merely glibly dismiss my sin with a "no big deal." He is not like us--nor is he simply a more powerful rendition of us. He is God--infinite, eternal, and unchangeable (not finite, temporal, and changeable) in his justice as well as his goodness. His forgiveness is not merely immunity from punishment (sometimes that's all we really want, after all). But God's forgiveness has a higher aim, as Psalm 130:4 says: "With you [God] there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." True forgiveness results in overwhelming gratitude; and in a fervent desire to honor, obey and fear God.

John Owen writes: "There are none in the world that deal worse with God than those who have an ungrounded persuasion of forgiveness." By contrast, "Great love will spring out of great forgiveness."

Let's face it--we are usually somewhere along the spectrum between having an "ungrounded persuasion of forgiveness," like the French philosopher, and a fully grounded, assured conviction of true forgiveness that leads us to greater fear of God. Let's recognize that--and ask God to give us a more fully grounded sense of his forgiveness, that comes to us through Jesus Christ.