Being forgiven by God commits us to a subsequent life of righteousness. As children of God, we have to forgive the sin debt of those who’ve violated us, too. That’s why the Christian life is impossible without the power of God the Holy Spirit living in and working out of us. Because the truth peels back the self-serving ‘hero’ and ‘victim’ masks we wore before salvation, as well as the villain and predator roles we played before salvation. Moreover, sin isn’t just the “big, obvious kind.” It’s the subconscious thought kind.
When Jesus said, If I’ve been forgiven little, I love little; He was talking about my comprehension of two things
- The height, breadth of my sin; and
- The height, bread, and depth, and depth of His love.
Sin, like melanin, is ubiquitous—existing everywhere
- my thoughts
- my words
- my actions and habits
- my omissions (the things was made to do and do not)
- my soul.
If I don’t understand that, I can feel like my sin debt is small. Even if I believe I may have needed God’s love—His forgiveness and mercy—I can also believe I only needed ‘a little.’ Believing that wouldn’t allow me to honor and appreciate God’s sacrifice of His Son, of LORD Jesus on the Cross very much at all. I might have a shrug’s worth of gratitude for the love demonstrated when Jesus Christ died for me. I might think others owed God a greater portion of thankfulness.
But the truth is, the wages of sin is death.
Forgiveness from God is a gift of grace, which gives me access through faith, to the eternal life in Jesus Christ. Access to property. Jesus is preparing Heaven!
When, in Leviticus Chapter Twenty-five, it says, do not wrong your friend during the year of jubilee, during which the Israelites celebrated release, it a picture of celebrating the grace found in the person of Jesus Christ.