Gracious Love

Psalm 103:8-12 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, patient, and abundantly rich in gracious love.  He does not chasten continuously or remain distant for all time.
He neither deals with us according to our sins nor repays us equivalent to our iniquity.
As high as heaven rises above earth, so His gracious love strengthens those who fear Him.
As distant as the East is from the West, that is how far He has removed our sins from us.

Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and let a willing attitude control me.

Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place; You will deliver me from trouble and surround me with shouts of deliverance.

All have sinned, and one of the consequences of sin is guilt. However, we can be grateful for these feelings of guilt because they encourage us to seek forgiveness. When a person turns away from sin and puts their faith in Jesus Christ, their sins are forgiven. Repentance is essential to the faith that leads to salvation (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Acts 3:19).

It’s time to move on once sin has been confessed, repented of, and forgiven. We who have come to Jesus, the Messiah, have been made new creations in Him. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Part of the “old” that has passed away includes the memories of past sins and the guilt they caused. Unfortunately, some Christians tend to dwell on their former sinful lives, clinging to memories that should have been long buried. This behavior is unproductive and contradicts the victorious Christian life that God desires for us. There’s a wise saying: “If God has saved you from a sewer, don’t dive back in and swim around.”
Gracious love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.