Grace and Forgiveness

Grace and forgiveness are a doorway of spiritual growth that we must go through; or rather open wide our hearts to receive. If we do not open our hearts very wide to receive Grace and forgiveness then we will not be able to face the truth about ourselves. And if we cannot face the truth about ourselves we will die spiritually. There is no growth that circumvents Truth; and if an organism isn't growing in some way, it dies.

What happens when we open wide our hearts to receive God's Grace and Forgiveness given through Christ?

A Light comes flooding into our soul, into the deepest core of our being---a warm healing Light that is also like a River—a River of Life that washes away death and everything associated with the darkness. There is no darkness in this Light. No guilt. No fear. No dread of anything, including death and sickness and pain. The Light is the Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus Who has overcome the world of darkness and oppression. In this Spirit is freedom and peace and joy. There is Love for God and man—good will toward all people. As long as we are in touch with this eternal Reality—the Reality of Christ—we remain in this freedom and Love. We realize that this is eternal Reality and that all our fears and worries were and are delusions. As long as we live in this Love we know that, from our standpoint, all is well in the universe because we are doing all that we can for it by loving God and man. We have come home. As we grow in Spirit, we are able to stay in this place for longer periods of time, and even when we are distracted by the “world”, we still know, in our deepest level, that all is well and will ever be well. We know that God is working all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). In this Reality we know that we are now and have always been in the domain of a loving Creator Who is pleased with us because we have received the righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:22, 5:17, 8:10, Philippians 1:11, 3:9 and elsewhere). This righteousness was and is so pure that God spoke in an audible voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) . This is the righteousness we have received from God through and because of Christ. God is pleased with us. We can rest in His gracious acceptance of us. We are content in our souls but not yet satisfied. How can we be satisfied as long as children are starving and humans are killing each other, stealing from each other and abusing and using each other? We realize that we have work to do. This work is motivated only by the Love of Christ—not guilt or fear:  Those have been eradicated by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-10). And this work is a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light (Matthew 11:30). Because of the Holy Spirit in us, we can not have peace unless we are working to further the Kingdom of God. This is the work Christ did on the earth; and it is the work that we, His earthly body, the Church, continue to do. We do this work joyfully and thankfully. (John 15:11, 1Thessalonians 5:18, James 3:18).