On Forgiveness and -Not- Blogging

I'm frustrated with myself.  I mean, really.  It has been a week since I blogged last!  Which means I haven't done much in the way of Scripture reading lately either.

Once again, it's the old excuse of being too busy.  I really have been extremely busy; there are more things going on than I care to list.  On the other hand, I know that part of my neglect is simple laziness, which is one of my worst faults.

However, I learned something this morning when my beloved fiance was leading a Bible study at his dad's church.  My man talked about how God in Christ has paid for, covered, erased, and generally gotten rid of all our sins.  When we, by faith, believe that Jesus has taken our sin on himself and given us his righteousness, God looks at us and sees none of our sin, but only Christ's righteousness.  No matter how much or how often we sin, when we repent of that sin, God forgives us.  He loves us, no matter what!  He has even claimed us as his own children.  To be called a child of God is something I have been familiar with my whole life, but every now and then it really hits me.

The Creator of the universe calls me his child!!  His own daughter!  His heir, and one who will get to spend eternity with him in heaven!!

This doesn't mean I can just keep sinning, knowing I'll be forgiven.  Quite to the contrary: when we really realize what God has done for us, out of faith, love and gratitude we will respond by serving and obeying him to the best of our abilities.  We can't do that perfectly, no, but that's where God's forgiveness comes in again. It's a blessed, loving circle.

With the knowledge that I am God's child, one he has chosen, I can really apply Romans 8:28 to my life again.  Yes, this keeps coming up, but right now my honey isn't well at all, in fact he's not able to go to the last performance of our college's annual Christmas concert.  And my heart aches for him.  How I wish I was the one with the sinus infection instead of him!  But I keep reminding myself, God works all things for good  for those he has called according to his purpose.  In this too, God will work good.

Today, I am going to remember that I am a loved, forgiven, and saved child of God: one he has called for his purposes.