Psalm 130:3-4 – If You, O Jehovah, marked iniquities, Who, O Lord, would stand? But with You there is forgiveness, That You would be feared.
The more the Lord forgives us, the more we fear Him, and at the same time the more we love Him. How marvelous is this!
Isa 55:7-8 says Let the wicked forsake his way, and the evildoer, his thoughts; and let him return to Jehovah, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God, for He will pardon abundantly. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways, declares Jehovah.
In Luke 7:40-43 the Lord Jesus likens Himself to a certain moneylender who had two debtors: one owed five hundred denari (the denarius was the chief silver coin of the Romans; it was considered good pay for a day’s labour) and the other fifty. Both had nothing with which to repay, so He graciously forgave them both.
The Lord asked this question: Which of them will love him more? Simon the Pharisee – who invited the Lord to his house, where this conversation took place – answered and said, I suppose the one whom he graciously forgave the more. The Lord said to him, You have judged correctly.
Luke 7:44-48 And turning to the woman, He said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, you did not give Me water for My feet, but she, with her tears, has wet My feet and with her hair has wiped them. You did not give Me a kiss, but she, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing My feet affectionately. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with ointment. For this reason I say to you, her sins which are many are forgiven, because she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, he loves little. And He said to her, your sins are forgiven.
In these two cases we see ourselves as debtors (sinners) having nothing with which to repay our debt to God. We need the Lord’s gracious forgiveness – and the more we are forgiven by the Lord, the more we love the Lord(just like the woman in the story above).
She was forgiven much and this caused her to love the Lord much, because through the Lord’s forgiveness she experienced the Lord in an affectionate and intimate way, even with tears. O, Lord Jesus! This is also our experience every day…
Also, this shows that our love for the Lord is the issue of the Savior’s forgiveness. The more we love the Lord, the more we fear Him, the more we honor Him, the more we treasure Him, the more we experience His forgiveness, and this goes on and on until we become the same as He is in life and nature, until this love is consummated into the New Jerusalem. Lord Jesus, we love You!
[Source: the Recovery Version and footnotes, sharing by brother Moh]
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