Scripture

He has removed our sins as far from us
    as the east is from the west.

~Psalm 103:12, NLT

Quote

All human are frail and prone to sin, yet they can be forgiven completely by the compassionate God who treats them like His children.

~Daniel Estes

As we studied in Sunday School last week: God is omnipotent–He is all powerful; He is omnipresent–He is everywhere at all times; He is omniscience–He knows everything. He is infinite in all His attributes. The only thing inifinte about humans is their ignorance.  Plus, we humans don’t have the ability to do anything perfectly. Everything we do in incomplete and this includes or forgiveness toward others. God has the ability to FORGIVE completely. He does not forgive in part but wholly. He has removed our sins as far and the east is from the west. If you go north you will eventually reach the north pole and if you keep going you will be headed south. But if you start toward the east, you will be going east for infinity.

Some sins you committed, you are unaware of and some you have forgotten, but there are others that haunt you and you cannot forget them. This is the difference between ourselves and God: He can forget them as though they never happened. There are sins that your spouse committed that you cannot forget; you say that you have forgiven them but your forgiveness is not complete, is it? No, you still remember the pain and the disappointment and whether it is conscious or subconscious, you are making them pay to some extent one way or another. We call this retribution, reaping what we have sown, but God is infinitely greater in His ability to forgive and when He forgives, He does it completely or perfectly. This is why He is our Refuge. We need what He alone offers.

Extra

Thank YOU Jesus for the rain! Wow, how refreshing and cooler temps to boot! Another good Wednesday night crowd–three in a row…hallelujah! Forty-niner luncheon tomorrow at 11:30. Deacon ordination on Sunday am and Movie Sunday evening at 5:00.

Extra/Extra

I listen to biographies when I am in the truck and I have a short list of DID YOU KNOW facts.

• Did you know that George Washington, the father of our country never fathered a child. He raised Martha’s two children but they never had children.
• Did you know that Washington was in the British Army at one point but they would not commission him as an officer and he became disenchanted with them. The British looked down on the Colonials and treated them like second rate citizens. In Washington’s case, they made a bad mistake.
• Did you know that after his first crushing defeat in the War for Independence, Washington lost all hope of winning the war but did vow that he would die on the field of battle rather than be hanged for treason.
• Had Washington not retreated, the British would have won the war in less than a year.
• Washington was three of Seven in battles fought, but he won the war.
• Did you know that he emancipated all his slaves before he died.
• Did you know that Thomas Jefferson read 15 hours a day and could play the violin. {Well enough to do concerts}
• Did you know that Thomas Jefferson was raised on a tobacco plantation in Virginia and at the time, half the people in Virginia were slaves.
• Did you know that Jefferson opposed slavery but owned slaves. He proposed a gradual freeing of the slaves.
• Did you know that Jefferson was very shy and avoided public debate.
• Did you know that the Enlightenment was more about individual freedom [civil rights], reason, and observable science than being in opposition to church and traditional values. There were some atheist involved but most were not. John Locke’s father was a Puritan.