Great Is His Faithfulness

March 27

How often can we anticipate that the Lord will forgive us once we have asked for cleansing from the sins we’ve committed? In Matthew 18:21 and 22 there is a question posed to the Lord by Peter which asks essentially, ‘How often is enough?’

Peter says, “If my brother offends me, is it sufficient if I forgive him seven times?” Jesus’ response to that is that if his brother seeks his forgiveness seventy times seven times, he should extend it to him each time. In other words, there is no limit on how much we are to forgive. It is a deep ocean that we must plumb every time we’re asked.

If this degree of compassion toward the offender is expected of us when someone hurts us, how much more can we expect that our Heavenly Father will extend forgiveness to us when we approach Him, laden with the burden of our failure to live the godly life Jesus has died to secure for us! Do we dare hope He will be merciful seventy times seven times—and more?!

When we fully understand that it is not our goodness but Christ’s that saves us, when we fully grasp the reality that we can do nothing to merit His free gift of salvation, then we are able to understand the assurance given in Lamentations 3:22, 23 which says, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed; for His compassions fail not. They are new every morning…”

His love bought us and His loves holds us—even when our sin would cause us to slip away. Indeed, as the verse concludes, “…great is His faithfulness.”