Years ago, I saw a rather corny bumper stick; but it stuck in my memory. It said, “Christians are not perfect, we are just forgiven.” I really liked the bumper sticker and it made a positive impact on me at the time. However, over the years since first seeing it, I’ve come to realize that like many clichés pressed into a few words, the message on the bumpers was only a partial truth on forgiveness. The total truth of forgiveness takes more than seven words to explain or to understand.
I think the first lesson we need to learn in understanding God’s forgiveness is to know what it does for our own dignity and self-esteem. The explanation of forgiveness by the late gay Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, won’t fit on a bumper sticker; but it does explain forgiveness in a way that is very understandable and easy to comprehend. He said, “Forgiveness is the answer to the child’s dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again.” We all have felt broken at times in our lives and this describes what God’s forgiveness and unconditional love does to make us whole again.
Understanding this forgiveness as making us whole again helps us to accept this reality the Apostle Paul shares in II Corinthians 5:17, “So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!” I can only imagine how incredibly different our lives might be if we believed in, acted on, and lived as if we are new creations and whole in Christ.
Join us in worship at Covenant this Sunday. Deacon Jeanette Horne will share her story and I’ll share some insights in my sermon, “We Are Not Perfect. We are Just Forgiven.” These insights are on how essential forgiveness is knowing God’s unconditional love as new creations in Christ, based on II Corinthians 5:17-21.
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