Forgiveness, An Undeserved Gift.

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 

Rom 6:15  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 

Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 

Rom 6:17  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 

Rom 6:18  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 

Rom 6:19  I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 

Rom 6:20  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 

Rom 6:21  What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 

Rom 6:22  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The wages of sin will always be death, whose death is what matters.

The death for sin will either be on us or Christ.  Christ already died, but His death was for those who choose to accept His sacrifice. He died to save us from our sins. If we ask for forgiveness for our sins- in truth- not in some haphazard, flippant, by rote manner, we will be forgiven and if we are forgiven the wages for our sins have been paid. If we do NOT accept Christ's sacrifice then the wages of sin will be paid by us, and the wages for all sin is death- eternal death.

Do we deserve to be saved from eternal death? No. There no deserving involved. If we wait until we feel as if we deserve to be saved we will never be saved, never. You never deserve forgiveness, it is a gift. Even when we forgive someone, it is a gift we are giving them. When we are in need of being forgiven and someone forgives us, they've given us a gift.  Forgiveness, even when we think someone should forgive us for something we may have done- perhaps our offense was committed unwittingly, through ignorance, or forgetfulness- so we may truly want forgiveness for our unintentional slight against someone, but that does not mean we deserve it. For whatever reason we've sinned, or slighted someone no matter the cause we've committed the act and the action has consequences and the consequences remain and have to be endured by the offended party. How often have we cried out the words- "I didn't mean it!"  In anguish we may wail our remorse. Still- we do NOT deserve forgiveness. We can't EARN forgiveness though a lot of people think they can. We can make restitution for our wrongs in any number of ways, and yes, that helps, but that restitution is not a payment for forgiveness. Forgiveness is a gift given from the heart, not forced from the heart, not bought from the heart.

We do not deserve forgiveness here and now from others, and we do not deserve forgiveness from God. We are blessed with the gift of forgiveness. 

We are told to forgive others- even our enemies, and we will be forgiven.

Mat 6:12  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

Mat 6:14  For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 

Mat 6:15  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

We forgive, we give this gift to others who do not deserve it, and shouldn't have to work to deserve it, and our Heavenly Father forgives us - who do not deserve it, and cannot buy it, or work for it in any way. Forgiveness by its very nature is not work- in fact if we forgive simply to be forgiven without any heart-truth forgiveness being involved, then it's not forgiveness at all.

What is forgiveness exactly- more on this tomorrow by the grace and mercy, the will of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, now and forever!!!!!!!