Freedom in Forgiveness & Grace

 

“If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself.” – 2 Tim 2:13

The other night my wife Kara and I watched the movie Forrest Gump. If you haven’t seen it, it’s basically about two things… 1) how a man of humble means and below-average intelligence observes and unwittingly influences major events of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and through it all, 2) falls in love with and never abandons his lifelong love Jenny.

Through the course of the film, Jenny is constantly on the run, trying to escape her abusive upbringing, trying to discover herself…just trying to get away, really. She gets involved in everything from anti-war protests to experimental drugs to the Black Panther party, and every decision she makes spirals her deeper and deeper into a lost world, a vortex of sadness and confusion that she created.

And yet, through it all, is Forrest. He never judges her, never thinks less of her regardless of what mess she gets herself into. Multiple times he actually physically comes to her rescue.

In Scripture, God commands Hosea the prophet to go and find a prostitute and marry her. He takes her in, gives her home and protection, and they even start a family. Yet she abandons him and returns to her life on the streets. Hosea, like Forrest, would go and rescue her and bring her back home. I often wondered why she would leave the safety, security, and forgiving love that Hosea showed her. I saw a lot of similarities between Hosea’s wife and Jenny.

Maybe it wasn’t about Jenny finding herself after all. Maybe she was unable to accept that someone would still love her unconditionally after all she’d done. Maybe she was unable to forgive herself, and accept that she’d been forgiven.

As followers of Christ, this is a situation that we find ourselves in too. We constantly feel like Jenny – a failure, undeserving of the love we’ve been shown. But that’s the majesty, the grandness of grace. When we realize how much we are loved and how much we’ve been forgiven, sometimes we feel undeserving and unworthy.

We have to remember that we serve a God who doesn’t consider us for what we’ve done – He considers us for who we are – and who we are in Him, sons and daughters, precious children and creations.

Have you thanked God for his forgiveness and grace today? He will never leave you, and His love is strong – stronger than anything we have done!

Category: Worship