God forgives; do we?

While looking at Facebook this week, I noticed a picture of Casey Anthony and underneath the picture were the words, “Describe this person.” Well… being the curious individual that I am, I checked out the comments about her. Whew! There were a lot of comments and I cannot share any of them in this post.

Talk about people being rude, crude and socially unacceptable in their discussion about Casey Anthony. Oh, my, goodness. I was embarrassed to read some of them.

But my “pastoral mind” took over and I wrote my comment.

It went like this: “She can be forgiven. All she needs to do is be repentant of what she did, and ask Jesus to forgive her and she can be forgiven. (And so can you.) You see, we all come short of what God wants us to be, according to Romans 3:23. Do I condone what she did? Absolutely not. But she can be forgiven and so can you.

Now… I haven’t received any feedback on my post, but it has caused me to think about that all week. What Casey Anthony did (or is accused of doing) is far worse than anything we would ever think of doing. Taking the life of an innocent child who has put their trust in you is despicable. It is disgusting and horrific, appalling and unspeakable. And yet… if she were to truly repent of what she did, and ask the Lord to forgive her, she would be forgiven in a heartbeat.

That’s why Jesus died for us, because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Now, everyone of us sins every day of our lives. And, according to my understanding of the Bible, there are no “big” or “little” sins. There are no “white” lies or “black” lies. We tend to categorize sins as being “big” or “little” sins and many times, when we sin, they are “little” sins, yet when someone else sins, they are “big” sins.

Sin is sin in God’s eyes. And the only sin that will keep a person out of Heaven is the sin of disbelief. The only sin that cannot be forgiven is the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

All other sins can be forgiven. So what Casey Anthony did, a most repulsive sin to us, can be forgiven by God and she can stand before Him as being justified which means He does not see her sin, because it is forgiven.

Now… what about you? What sins are in your life that need to be forgiven? The Bible says in I. John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

God is waiting to hear from you. He loves you just like you are, but He loves you too much to leave you like that.

Pastor Thad Gifford is lead pastor of the Crossroads Community Church of Madison County, 62 E. Second St., London. He can be reached at (740) 852-7800, e-mail him at sermon8er@aol.com or at their website www.3c-church.org.