The Badge of Forgiveness

In our journeys through life, we have come to understand that certain people are identified by the badges they wear.  Just take a moment now to think, can you see a badge of authority on someone? Maybe it is even a name tag on the shirt of the person at the coffee shop, or something more serious like someone in law enforcement or maybe a first responder. Each of those individuals has earned the right and/or privilege to wear that badge and as a result, they represent those who authorized them with certain rights and privileges.  Many times, you need an ID badge just to even get in the door.

I wanted to take a little time to talk about the badge we have been given.  It is an inherent badge that is not initially worn on the outside and therefore it challenges us to wear it courageously.

But before I develop this topic a little, I would like for you to enjoy this short segment of “The Chosen.”

Our badge, the one we can carry with confidence, is what makes us different from those around us.  Like Jesus, we can exemplify the love of God by showing our badge.

Luke 23:32-34 King James Version

³² And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.³³ And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.³⁴ Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

These statements are almost unbelievable!  That Jesus at this desperate and torturous time of his life would have the presence of mind to offer forgiveness.  It is a humbling action, huh?  That in his dying moments he lives out the words he had preached earlier in his ministry.

Matthew 5:7 King James Version

⁷ Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

 Luke 6:27-28 King James Version

²⁷ But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, ²⁸ Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

Luke 6:35-36 King James Version

³⁵ But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. ³⁶ Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Mercy has been defined as not receiving what we do deserve and grace as receiving that which we do not deserve.

In Matthew 18:24 there is a parable Jesus teaches to show the amazing depth of God’s love. It is a record of a man whose debt was ten thousand talents. This is equivalent to millions of dollars. No slave in ancient times could ever repay such a debt. People in ancient times would understand this comparative amount far better than modern Westerners. This is just like us. We owe God an unpayable debt. But in mercy, God cancels our debt, forgives us and lets us go free. God does all this perfectly legally on the basis that Jesus Christ has paid the unpayable debt for us.

Forgiveness means “to remove the guilt resulting from wrongdoing…It is extremely important to note that the focus in the meaning is upon the guilt of the wrongdoer and not upon the wrongdoing itself. When God forgives the wrongdoer, the event of wrongdoing is not undone, but the guilt resulting from such an event is pardoned. To forgive, therefore, means essentially to remove the guilt resulting from wrongdoing.

“In Ephesians 1:7, the apostle Paul stated this glorious truth of forgiveness when he wrote, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” The word “forgive” is the Greek word aphiemi, which means to permanently dismiss, to liberate completely, to discharge, to send away, or to release. It was used in New Testament times to mean to cancel a debt or to release someone from an obligation of a contract, a commitment, or a promise. It means to forfeit any right to hold a person captive to a previous commitment or a wrong he has committed.

“So when Paul used this word in Ephesians 1:7 to describe the forgiveness of sins, he was saying that God has permanently dismissed our past sins from us. We are liberated completely from them. He has discharged them from us; He has sent them away; and He has released us from them. The debt we once owed due to past transgressions is canceled, and God has freed us from the guilt of those previous actions. Because the blood of Jesus was shed for the payment of our sin, God has forfeited any right to hold us captive for that which we have already received forgiveness.” (Rick Renner)

Guys we have received an abundance of mercy!!

Isn’t this what we’re told in Psalm 103:12? It says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

If God said He removed our sins from us as far as the north is from the south, we would eventually meet our sins again, because there is a north pole and a south pole. However, if you go east and you never change direction, you’ll never meet west because you’ll always be going east. Likewise, if you travel west and never change direction, you’ll never meet east because you’ll always be traveling west. East never meets west, and west never meets east — and that’s how far God has removed our sins from us! He has removed your past sins from you forever. In fact, Micah 7:19 declares that once God has dealt with your sins, He throws them into a “sea of forgetfulness.”

Micah 7:18-19 contains these wonderful words: “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us,and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” This verse reveals that no angel or human has a character so willing to pardon wickedness done against Himself or others, as what God has.

God has put your sins behind His back forever, never to look at them again. He has chosen to release you from those sins completely — as if you never did it. God doesn’t have a poor memory. He could remember if He chose to, but He has chosen to never remember them again. He has thrown them into the depths of the sea, where He will never retrieve them to bring them up to you again.

What about us? Since we are in Christ and therefore have received forgiveness from God by what Jesus did, why do we keep dragging up our past again and again, as if God were reminding us of it? If He has placed your past actions into the sea of forgetfulness, shouldn’t you leave all that past mess where He has left it? Why don’t you make the decision today to leave your past messes in the depths of the sea and allow yourself to be released from them once and for all by the power in the work of Jesus? That is exactly what God wants you to do!

And then, WE CAN PAY IT FORWARD!! WOW!!

What a badge we wear, and we can wear it proudly.

“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the

temperature of the heart.”-Corrie Ten Boom