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Forgiveness and the Second Chance


Categories Bible Theology
This post was published on Wednesday 20 July 2011.

I am a Christian. I believe that when we turn back to the Father and repent of our sins, we are truly forgiven through Jesus’ blood shed on the cross, and given new life through his resurrection and in the power of the Holy Spirit. But what does that forgiveness mean? What are the consequences of that forgiveness, as opposed to the consequences of my sin? When we are forgiven by God, do we still have to face some consequences of our wrongdoing, or are we given a genuine second chance?

When it comes to matters of life and death, to eternity, forgiveness means we face no consequences for our sin. On Judgement Day our sins and failures will be laid bare before all - but the Bible tells us those who have put their trust in Jesus, who have confessed their sins and begged God’s forgiveness will not pay the price for those sins and failures. For those who believe, Jesus has paid the price himself in his own death. So the eternal consequences of sin are truly removed when we are forgiven.

But what about here and now? What about the consequences of sin in this life? That, my friends, is a much trickier question.

When the tower of Siloam collapsed (Luke 13) Jesus insisted that the people who died in that accident were no more sinful than anyone else.  In this instance, they were victims not of their own personal sin, but of the collective sin of humankind. And Jesus warns: "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5 ESV)

So in this life, we are not free of the consequences of humanity’s sin; but if we repent, we will be free of them in the life to come.

But what about our own personal sin? What about the mistakes we make, the sins and failures that we all keep doing? In what sense do we receive forgiveness in this life for those things? In what sense do we bear the consequences of sin in this life?

If you know me, you will know that is a very personal question. I have had one or two major failures in my life, for which I have spent a lot of time on my knees repenting and asking God’s forgiveness. And I believe I have received that forgiveness. Yet, I still have to live with the consequences of those failures every day. I am now in a career that has nothing to do with my vocation. I have lost the large majority of my Christian friends. I live on my own, with the prospect of that not being a short-term situation. I struggle with feelings of guilt and failure, not helped by the way I am often treated by others (with some very wonderful exceptions!).

I’m not having a moan - I am simply making the point that in this life, illustrated by my own life, we frequently have to bear the consequences of our actions - even if we have received forgiveness for our sins. ‘Forgiveness’ does not mean ‘undoing’ what we have done. It does not mean going through our past with a divine ‘delete’ key. Forgiveness is not a magic wand to fix everything that’s wrong with our life. Rather, it means we do not have to pay the ultimate price...

..and there is more than that. There is always an opportunity for our failures to be redeemed in this life, not simply in the next. It may take time, while we work through the more serious consequences of our actions. It may not take the form we expect - in fact it probably won’t. We can never fully escape our past failures, but God is the Lord of Second Chances, and he has the power, shown in the cross, to bring good from any evil, no matter how bad.

The point is this: forgiveness means new life, only fully given when Jesus returns, but given in part here and now. Forgiveness means that, although we must live with the consequences of our actions (and the bigger the failure, the more serious the consequences), there is always hope. You cannot get yourself into a situation so bad that God cannot bring you out of it. You cannot dig yourself a hole so deep that God cannot reach down and help you to climb out of it. Your sin can never be so bad that God is not willing to receive you if you turn back to him.

The ‘this life’ aspect of forgiveness may - and almost certainly will - take time to be worked out. But it is genuinely part of forgiveness. God is good, loving and patient - are you? Am I?