By David ReayFriday 9 Oct 2020LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
“Listen to this carefully. I’m warning you. There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you persist in your slanders against God’s Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives.” He gave this warning because they were accusing him of being in league with Evil. (THE MESSAGE)
It is so hard to truly believe all our sins can be forgiven. Some hold to the mistaken idea that there is some fine print at the foot of the cross, there is some obscure clause somewhere in God’s product disclosure statement that makes clear that our sins are an exception to the general rule.
But nothing we say or do is so bad that it puts us beyond the grace of God. Which causes us to wonder what Jesus was talking about when he speaks of a sin that cannot be forgiven. The paraphrase quoted above helps clarify the meaning. In short, the one sin that can’t be forgiven is the sin which refuses to accept the offer of forgiveness. To reject Jesus and his Spirit is to turn your back on the only chance of forgiveness.
And even then, this rejection must continue till your dying breath. You can reject Jesus on Monday and embrace his mercy on Tuesday. So we can never conclude anyone has committed this sin and so lose the chance of mercy. And we can never conclude we ourselves have done so.
Indeed, the very fact we may be concerned about such a thing is a sign we have not so hardened our hearts against Jesus. The only unforgivable sin is to refuse till our dying breath the source of forgiveness: Jesus. Everything else is covered by the cross on which he died.
Blessings
David