July 8 saving faith loves forgiveness. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted for giving one another

as God in Christ forgave you Ephesians 432.

Saving faith is not merely believing that you are forgiven.

Saving faith looks at the horror of sin and then looks at the holiness of God and apprehends

spiritually that God's forgiveness is unspeakably glorious, beautiful. We don't just receive it,

we admire it, we are satisfied with our new friendship with such a great forgiving God.

Faith in God's forgiveness does not merely mean a persuasion that I am off the hook,

it means savoring the truth that a forgiving God is the most precious reality in the universe,

saving faith cherishes being forgiven by God and from there rises to cherishing the God who

forgives and all that he is for us in Jesus. This experience has a tremendous effect on our

becoming forgiving people. The great act of purchasing our forgiveness is passed, the Cross of

Christ. By this backward look, we learn the grace in which we will ever stand Romans 5 2. We learn

that we are now and always will be loved and accepted. We learn that the living God is a forgiving

God, but the great act of experiencing our forgiveness goes on forever into the future, our joyful

fellowship with the great God who forgives, lasts forever, therefore freedom for forgiveness,

flowing from this all-satisfying fellowship with the forgiving God, lasts as long as we do. I have

learned that it is possible to go on holding a grudge. If your faith simply means you have

looked back to the Cross and concluded that you are off the hook. That's why I have been forced

to go deeper into what true faith is, not just a relief that I am off the hook, but also a profound

satisfaction with all that God is for me in Jesus. This faith looks back, not merely to discover

that we are off the hook, but also to see and savor the kind of God who offers us a future of endless

reconciled tomorrows in fellowship with Him. Satisfied fellowship with such a forgiving God is crucial

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