GOD FAITHFULLY FORGIVES
Read 1 John 1:9
What is God faithful to do? What must you do? Jesus created the opportunity to forgive you by dying on the cross. Forgiveness of sins is what He gives, but you must see that you are a sinner and want God’s forgiveness. It’s like a Christmas gift at Christmas. Your mom and dad did the work to buy and wrap your gift and it is sitting under the tree. It’s yours, but you won’t experience all the fun of what it is until you open it up. You don’t have to be afraid that you have done something so bad it cannot be forgiven. If you tell God your sin and are sorry for it, He loves you and will always forgive you no matter what bad thing you have done
GOD GIVES ANOTHER WAY
Read Psalm 103:10.
What does God not do with our sins? You deserve to pay the penalty for your sin which is separation from God. But if you believe in Jesus, you don’t have to pay it. He is fair and right, and sin still has to be paid for. Because He sent His Son to die on the cross for your sins, He has given you a way out of the penalty you deserve. Imagine that you disobeyed your parents and your punishment is to do the dinner dishes every night by yourself for a week. But one of your siblings steps in and says they have already done the punishment for you, and you get to go free. That is what God’s forgiveness looks like.
GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU
Read Psalm 103:11
How high is God’s love for you? How far is He able to forgive you? The word “steadfast” means something is stable and consistent. When God says His love is steadfast, He means it will never change and it will never grow more or less. God is telling you that He loves you higher than the heavens to begin with, and His love, no matter what you do, will never grow less. Tonight, if it’s a nice night outside, sit in your backyard and look up at the stars. The closest star to the earth is the sun but after the sun, the closest star you see is 4.3 light years away. One light year is 10 trillion kilometers which is 6,213,711,899,999 miles! That is just the closest star; there are trillions of stars much farther away. We don’t know exactly where heaven is, but we know we can’t see it. God says in Psalm 103:11 that the heavens are above the earth and since we can see the stars, it’s safe to say it’s beyond them. Look up in the sky tonight and think about how much God loves you. He loves you beyond the distance of the stars. That’s a lot, and since His love is steadfast, you don’t have to be afraid because the measure of His love will never change.
THE EAST IS FROM THE WEST
Read Psalm 103:12
How far does God move your sins (transgressions) from you? If you and a friend stood back to back, one of you facing the east and one facing west, and then started walking…what would happen? You would walk apart and each step you take would be a greater distance from each other. Because the earth is round, it would be a LONG walk, but you would eventually meet up with each other. God is the God of the universe, so His east and west are different. Imagine you were in space floating back to back with a friend. One goes east and the other goes west. Each “float” would create a greater distance, and since the universe is not round, you would never meet. You would eventually be VERY far away from each other. “As far as the east is from the west” – this is how much God will separate your sins from you. Because God loves you, the wrong that you do will never be known of you because God will separate it from you… really far away.
FORGIVE ME
Read Hebrews 8:12.
What does God do? What does God forget? You never have to be afraid that God won’t love you. You never have to be afraid that God will hold a grudge for something you have done. If you are sorry for your sin, ask Him for forgiveness. He will not only forgive, but will forget. No grudges from God. He loves you to the heavens and is ready to forgive you as much as you need.