Here I Am, Lord: Devotions from Time of GraceSample

Thank You, Lord, for Forgiving Me

I appreciate being given some slack. I love it when my friends overlook my bad behavior. I am relieved when my boss understands and gives me some extra time. I know I can be hard to live with sometimes and appreciate it when my spouse doesn’t keep score. But I am grateful most of all when you, O Lord, choose not to hold my many sins against me.

I will never stop praising you for your gospel. If I had to earn your favor on the basis of my performance, I would stay an outsider for all eternity. Your Word assures my nervous heart that our good relationship rests on your work and your attitude and your choice, not mine: “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:11,12).

Lord, remember what you said! East by definition never meets west. Don’t let the evidence of my sins anywhere near you. Please, Father--when you think of me, think of Jesus your Son first. View me always through your Christ-lenses. Thank you for giving me a righteousness I could never accomplish or afford on my own. I love living in your love.