Each one of us is on a journey to our final, and eternal, destination.  As Christians, we live with the confident assurance that our eternal home is with God.  But, we’re not home yet and there is a life to be lived as we journey toward heaven.  It is my prayer that this series of devotions will help you discover not only a glimpse of heaven, but that it would prepare you to more fully live like you are home even as you continue the journey.

This is day eight from the devotional journal, “Almost Heaven: Devotions For the Journey Home”.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God in the process of discovering how He would have us to live as we prepare for an eternal home.

Almost Heaven:
A Home Of Forgiveness

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.“
2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (NIV)

Have you ever been wronged?  Have you ever wronged someone else?  How easy is it for you to forgive others?  To forgive yourself?  To seek forgiveness from others?  How important is repentance to the topic of forgiveness?  Is it possible to forgive someone who refuses to repent of their wrong?  Is it possible to be forgiven if you refuse to repent of your wrong?  What is the difference between those two situations?  How would/does living in a home of forgiveness make you feel.

When I first got my driver’s license, my parents said they would take my keys if I got into an accident.  It wasn’t long until I put my car in the ditch and needed towed out.  When I got home, I handed my keys to my parents and went to bed.  In the morning, when explanations could be given and lessons learned shared, my keys were returned to me and I experienced the joy of forgiveness.  That wasn’t the first, or last, time for the experience as I grew up in a home of forgiveness.  As you pray, ask God to help you be a person who both gives and receives forgiveness.  Pray that you would live as one prepared for a home of forgiveness. 

In prayer,

Tom