Breathless

'Knowing the despair of guilt, before we can experience the breathless wonder of forgiveness.' P T Forsyth.

There are several analogies for the way God forgives us, one of my favourites is the beach one. Have you ever seen a beach at the end of the day with kicked up messed up sand from footprints and games and picnics etc? Compare it to then the early morning after the tide has come in a swept the beach clean. It's so calm and new and fresh, like no one has ever been there ever before. That is how God forgives.

It was explained to me a different way years ago. It was about doors. You put your sin behind a door and shut it, asking God for forgiveness, He forgives you. Then for whatever reason the despair of guilt may catch you about that particular sin again, and you come to God, asking for forgiveness. And He goes: 'What?! What do you mean, I don't remember that happening.' And you say: 'Look, don't you remember? You put it here behind this door, I'm sorry, please forgive me.' You try to pull the door open, you can't. Again you try, and God lets you open the door....there's nothing there, it's empty, gone, vanished, forever. 'But...you put it there, I saw you.' 'I may have done in the past, but I forgave you, so it went, gone. It can't be undone, and I don't remember the sin, because it's no longer there, it vanished when you asked me first time.'

The breathless wonder of forgiveness. Have you ever been very breathless, either after running, or hiking up a hill, laughing so much, asthma attack??! Etc? I was yesterday, I was rafting and we stopped to climb around and up the bank so we could jump off the rocks into the deep water - apparently for fun! I was rather terrified, but I did it, seeing the others do it, I could trust that it's be OK and my life jacket would help me surface! As soon as I surfaced though, I was entirely breathless with all the adrenaline rushing through me. Breathless with the awesomeness of it! Once I recovered, I thought it was pretty cool...but may be not ever again!!