I forgive YOU.
Why? Why forgive like that? It's not natural, right?
No, it's not. It should be, but it's not. Right now, people mostly respond to someone who has hurt them with anger, with the thought to 'get even'. You know, that whole 'eye for an eye' thing.
I want to insert a thought here. A small word that you maybe have never come across. Maybe you have but you don't understand it. The word is 'Mercy.' What is mercy? Mercy is a mix of compassion and forgiveness. Mercy is saying 'you are more important than what is owed to me.' Mercy is hard. It is a Choice. Like forgiveness.
Forgiveness, mercy, compassion. These words all come from the same place. They all are used in descriptions of God. I think that Jonah in chapter 4 puts it very well: He complained to the Lord about it: “Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love." Jonah didn't like that God forgave the city of Nineveh when they made the decision to change. They cried out to God with sorrowful hearts, and God could not ignore them.
It is the same for You. God loves you. And you know what else- The creator of the universe Forgives you. He forgave you long before you were born. You see, there was this man called Jesus. He wasn't just any man. He was a Jew. He followed the Jewish laws. He celebrated Passover. He wasn't just any Jew. He was the Promised One. Called the Messiah. God had, from the beginning, promised a Saviour. Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise. How? Why? To put it simply- Jesus was God. He is God.
Do you get where I am going with this?
The Creator of the Universe Came Down To Earth. He was despised and rejected by his own people. He loved the poor, the fatherless, the weak, the lame. God died for you. He saw you in the beginning. He knew you before you were ever formed. And to save you, to make you part of his family, he paid with his very life. And, because he is the one who made EVERYTHING, he couldn't very well stay dead. That would be like a foot of snow in [insert hottest place you can think of] all year round- it just doesn't make sense! He came back to us. The God I follow is a living, caring Being. He is Big enough to forgive everything you ever did wrong.
In Short:
God isn't aloof
He is present, caring, and faithful
The God I follow is full of love
And he offers you a Relationship with him
