March 8 - Forgiven

“…and will forgive their sin…” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

We are into the 8th day of preparation and we still haven’t gotten to  the “heal our land” part. Why does God first say that He will forgive our sins  before He says that He will heal our land? To reinforce the truth. The truth is  that we need to turn from our wicked ways and receive forgiveness before  He will heal our land.

We probably want our land healed so we don’t have to experience  discomfort. We don’t like being mocked for our faith, nor the idea of being  persecuted for our convictions. We fear that the persecution of believers  around the globe may be headed to our shores. We just want our  comfortable life back, with its blissful ignorance to tolerance of sin.  But God is deadly serious about sin, even if we are not. Why else would  He come down to earth to live a perfect life and die such an unimaginably  painful, excruciating death if sin wasn’t such a matter of life and death for all  eternity.

We are seeking a happier life; but God is after a holier life. Let’s  double down on our commitment to choose a holier life, in line with His Word.  Only then can we experience a truly joyful, fulfilled life.  Let’s humbly approach the Throne of Grace today, rejoicing in His  grace that offers us forgiveness of our sin through the substitutionary death  of Jesus on the cross. Let’s revel in the fact that “as far as the east is  from the west,” that is how far He has removed our sins from us (Psalm  103:12). Having been saved from the eternal penalty of our sin, let us now  seek to know and do His will.

Today’s Action:  
Let’s read Proverbs 8 together, choosing to value His words of  wisdom and instruction over anything else in this world, letting them  penetrate and change our willful hearts.

“Receive my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than  choice gold; for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one  may desire cannot be compared with her.” (Proverbs 8:10-  11)