April 25
Happiness through Forgiveness
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
—Psalm 32:1
Without a doubt one of the greatest blessings of the Christian life is that our God gives second chances. I don’t know about you, but I need second chances. Because I fail, I sin, I fall short. The Apostle Paul told us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But even if we have failed miserably, God gives us the opportunity to put it behind us. He can dramatically turn things around on our behalf. He can forgive us.
We have a choice in what course our lives take. We can either confess our sin and turn from it and know the happiness of being forgiven, or we can conceal and hide our sin and know the misery of God finding us out and reaping what we have sown. The Bible tells us God will not bless the person who tries to hide his or her sin. The Prophet Isaiah said, “ ‘Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves’ ” (Isaiah 3:9).
On the other hand, the Bible says, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1). Doesn’t that sound better?
I made that choice in life about what I was going to do with my sin. I chose to ask God to be forgiven. Shouldn’t you?
Copyright © 2005 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.