on the walk

As I continue to reflect on this past week’s sermon on forgiveness, I find myself struck again by the primacy of forgiveness with respect to repentance. This is of course the opposite of how we normally expect forgiveness to work.

In our normal thoughts about forgiveness, we expect that after someone offers sufficient apology, we might then offer the release of forgiveness. But in God’s kingdom of grace, the offer of forgiveness precedes rather than follows repentance.

However much this may seem counter intuitive, there are at least two reasons why this is the only way it makes sense. Continue Reading »