Sometimes, we seem to think that God’s forgiveness is something like a layaway plan, where you finally get to take it home once you have repented enough.
But forgiveness does not originate from repentance, it comes from Jesus Christ.
In the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, Jesus tells us of an absolutely reckless son who is forgiven by his Father. The son returns home and says that he is truly sorry for his sins and that he is unworthy to be called the Father’s son.
His Father totally forgives him, not because the son felt sorry enough or felt unworthy enough. No. The Father forgave his son long before he came home, long before He saw him a ways off and sprinted out to meet him.
The Father forgave him, because he was His son, and He loved him as only a Father can.
Dear Saints, our Heavenly Father forgives us because He loves us as only He can! In Romans 5:8, Paul wrote: “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
You see, God forgave us while we were STILL sinners! In fact, the whole world was forgiven on Good Friday, when Jesus Christ took all of our sins upon Himself, suffered their terrible consequence for us, and died the death that we deserve.
Do you still need to repent of your sinfulness and for all the wrongs you have thought, said, and done?
Of course! But you also must realize that you will NEVER be able to repent enough. You will NEVER be able to repent sincerely enough either.
Thanks be to God that His forgiveness is not based upon whether you repent enough, or whether you are being sufficiently sincere either.
Christ’s Holy Absolution (the forgiveness of your sins) is based entirely upon His own work of salvation that has already been completed through His death and resurrection for you.
Paul wrote, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Cor 5:19)
Your repentance does not have to be enough, because God’s grace for you is ENOUGH. His sacrifice for you was perfectly sincere. His Blood covers all of your sinfulness. Not just the sins for which you repent, but also for your imperfect repentance for them!
Because of Christ, we are reconciled. So, now we are to share His reconciliation with others.
In the first of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, he wrote: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent,’ He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”
In other words, the entire life of a faithful Christian believer is the life of Christ. We know we are forgiven because Christ has already given us His righteousness through His perfect love for us, which is more than ENOUGH to reconcile us with the Heavenly Father.
Soli Deo Gloria!
(Published on the Devotional Page of the Alpine Avalanche Newspaper on Thurs, October 8, 2026)
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