Gems From Pastor Jim

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by Jim Hughes

CrossPs. 130:3-4 LORD, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O LORD, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.

If I had to single out which of God’s blessings mean the most to me, this would be right at the top of the list. I have sinned a lot in my lifetime. I have done and said things that I wish I could take back or forget. I still do things that are sin to God. If the Lord were to keep track of each one and record them to hold them against me, I would have zero chance of ever making it to heaven.

But, instead of keeping a record of my wrong doings, the Lord forgives me. Not only does He forgive me, He wipes the slate clean with a permanent cleaning solution (His blood) so that they are remembered no more. Only the Lord is able to do that. We can forgive, but we can’t forget everything. Forgiveness is the ultimate proof of love. We don’t deserve to be forgiven. We don’t deserve the opportunity to learn how to live in fellowship with God and to fear Him.

When we are forgiven by the Lord, we must forgive ourselves. We can’t undo what has been done and said. We accept God’s forgiveness and make a covenant with Him that we will move forward in grace and not live in the past. We let go of the pain and sufferings we may have caused. We let go of the consequences of our sins. Where we can, we strive to right the wrong of what we have done, but where we can’t, we let the blood of Christ set us free from the past.

When we are forgiven by the Lord, we extend His forgiveness to others. They may not change their ways, but we can change ours. We can in Christ forgive and learn to love those who wrong us. In fact, we can’t really love the Lord unless we do.

When we are forgiven, we learn how to fear the Lord. We learn how to respect Him for who He is. We learn how to keep Him in our thoughts and let him govern our lives. We learn how to pay attention to what He says and do it.

Thank you, Lord, for amazing grace.

C Through Marriage

About the Author:

Jim HughesSpending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.

C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chaper on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one’s self from such failures.

I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn’t broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.

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