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Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
Micah 7 v 18

God is unique not only in terms of His power, His character and His sovereignty but also in terms of His mercifulness. He delights in extending His mercy to His children. Even if He is displeased or angry with us, He does not remain so forever. He quickly forgives and forgets our errors and wanton acts of sin or rebellion. He passes over our faults, mistakes, sins. Every day is a Passover for the believer for the Lord passes over us. We can celebrate His mercy to us. He renews His fellowship with us and we need not hide from Him even after we have fallen short of His standards or broken His law. By the grace of Jesus, we are not afflicted by guilt. This is one of the greatest benefits of faith in Jesus. We can start afresh again without the burden of guilt dragging us into the past. We are freed from the consequences or penalties and curses of that sin.

True repentance means that we should not repeat the very act that we sought and obtained mercy for. It will show that we are not taking the Lord’s mercy for granted and out of reverence, we are willing to make amends. It is true that a righteous man falls seven times but he will not fall exactly the same way again if he can help it. The Lord does not keep a record of our wrongs once we confess and commit not to repeat it. He does not grudgingly forgive us but delights in showing mercy to us. One moment He may be angry with us but the very next, He will calm His anger and reveal His love and compassion to us. He will blot out our transgressions and give us a new and clean slate once again. Even if our sins be crimson, He makes us white as snow.

We obtain forgiveness from the Father in heaven for violating His standards by claiming forgiveness and regeneration by the blood of Jesus. The death of Jesus on the cross is the absolute equivalent of eternal death in terms of the excruciating, seemingly endless pain, suffering, shame, agony of loneliness, desertion by one’s near and dear. When we by faith and by baptism and participation in the communion from time to time identify with the death of Jesus on the cross, we are offering the payment made by Jesus on the cross for our moral and spiritual debts to the Lord. The wages of sin- death is paid by Jesus, once for all. We can now enjoy the rewards and blessings of eternal life.

Prateep V Philip