QUESTION AND ANSWER
If there is always forgiveness, why does it matter if you sin?
First of all we need to recognise that forgiveness is not always available. if we are not repentant, the Lord will not forgive us. Furthermore, if we do not forgive others, the Lord will not forgive us (see the Lord's Prayer).
But, having said all that, it is true that the Lord is compassionate and does forgive us whenever we sincerely turn to him in real sorrow for our sins and with a determination to lead a new life. The best summing up of the conditions for forgive- ness may be found in the Holy Communion confession of the book of Common Prayer which talks about serving and pleasing him in newness of life. And there is the clue. God is always ready to forgive but he does require from us the determination and not just the vague hope that we shall really aim to live differently in the days ahead. We do not live good lives in order to get right with God. That is freely given because of
the salvation which the Lord Jesus purchased for us upon the cross. We are justified by faith.
However, being justified and accepted by God, we are set free to please the Lord in the way we live. it is significant that Romans, the great epistle of free grace is the one which ends by appealing to us to "present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship". (Romans 12:1-2)
It is our job therefore to do two things. First of all we need to keep the channels open to God by frequent self-examination and repentance as well as the receiving or his forgiveness. Secondly, we need to see how we can live our lives in a way which will truly please him.
John Pearce is Rector of Limehouse.