Forgiven
As the years went by, I constantly needed to be reminded that Satan's accusations were lies: "How could you be forgiven when you keep on sinning?", "I think God must be sick and tired of your half-heartedness, so there's no point even asking for forgiveness this time."
I needed to be reminded how complete God's forgiveness is. The scripture that inspired this poem was 1 John 1:8-9, which says: "If we say that we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. (And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.)"
Forgiven
Come, my child
you seem to have some troubles on your mind.
You look downcast, upset,
come on let's put all that behind.
Oh Lord, you know that sin,
I'm sorry, I've done it all again,
I can't believe I did it,
oh, I've caused you so much pain.
Now, let's see
what is that sin that you are talking about?
I'm afraid I don't remember
Come on, tell me, let it out.
Oh Lord, how can you say that?
You must know about this one.
Don't you keep a record
of all I've said and done?
Well yes, let's have a look,
your life's book will tell us all,
a record of all sins
measured by the law.
Oh Father, please forgive me,
for Jesus' sake, not mine.
With your help I'll not repeat
the ugly sins that you will find.
I cannot find a record
of any sin, do you doubt?
Come take a look yourself
the Lamb's blood has wiped them out.
Your sins are not being counted
there is no record here
they are blotted out completely
you have nothing at all to fear.
Though your sins were red as scarlet
The Lamb's blood has washed them clean
When he died for you
he cancelled every sin there's ever been.
Andrew Host, 11th June 1998
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