Is it possible to outstretch the limit of God’s forgiveness? What would life be worth if we could? The fear of outstretching the limit would fill us with misery.

In God’s sight no offense is so great or so frequent as to be beyond forgiveness. One could have a mountain of sins and still bury them in the ocean of God’s love. God is not willing that the vilest sinner should be lost. (2 Peter 3:9.) God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ is as boundless as the heavens.

“He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:10-12.)

Divine mercy has provided for the expiation and forgiveness of every man. Pardon is available to every nation, ethnic group, and class. Forgiveness is for the rich and for the poor; for the educated and the uneducated; for the intelligent and for the not so intelligent. It makes little difference about one’s present, or about one’s past. Divine forgiveness is a possibility for every man, woman, and child. (John 3:16-17.)

God’s forgiveness is unlimited, but many by their attitude limit God’s forgiveness on their behalf. Some hate themselves for the things they have done and they seem to think that God hates them too. In conversations with Christians maybe you have heard a friend say: “Oh, if God could only forgive me for what I’ve done.”

We must not let our past stand in the way of our forgiveness. Only one man has ever lived above sin, and that is Jesus Christ. He is the substitute for our sins (1 John 2:1), and he stands at the right hand of God desperately wanting to intercede on every person’s behalf. Christ is not interested in our past, he is interested in our future. Don’t let your attitude toward your past rob you of God’s saving grace.

Unbelief is also another hindrance to forgiveness. A lack of confidence in what God has done for each of us through Jesus Christ seriously limits God’s grace on our behalf. An unfaithful Christian who never had the opportunity to learn how to read or write once asked me: “Do you believe that a man who can’t read or write can go to heaven?”

Another man, a Vietnam War veteran who had killed in combat, told his Christian wife his reason for not seeking salvation. “I do not believe that anyone who has taken another human life can go to heaven.”

A woman who had been baptized and had attended church faithfully for several years once exclaimed, “I know that I have no chance of going to heaven because of my past, but I’m teaching my children to attend church and to do what is right so that they can go to heaven.”

A lack of confidence can only pull a soul away from God. Don’t let your unbelief rob you of God’s saving grace.

A failure to understand the Bible frustrates God’s grace. Some take difficult scriptures and wrest them to their own destruction. Peter said, “ . . . they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16.)

An unfaithful Christian man read Hebrews 6:4-6: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” Then the man concluded that since he had already been baptized and had now fallen away it was impossible for him to receive forgiveness anew.

A promiscuous young lady read about the unforgivable sin (Mark 3:29), and concluded that she had done something that prevented her forgiveness forever. God’s word is designed to free men from the enslavement of sin (John 8:32), but a failure to properly understand and apply the teaching of God’s word will further enslave on in sin. Don’t let your ignorance rob you of God’s saving grace.

The tragedy is that all of these precious souls can receive forgiveness. In every case each person has limited his/her own forgiveness. The only key to remove the shackles of sin is God’s forgiveness, and if one continues to limit his own forgiveness by these erroneous attitudes he/she throws away the only key that will set one free.

God’s word is designed to communicate God’s grace to every lost soul. When properly studied and obeyed, the Bible will take every person from wherever he/she may be to where God wants him/her to go. And ultimately that place is to heaven to live with him. The Bible is designed to remove our doubts, fears and unbelief. The Bible is not designed to further enslave and condemn (John 3:17.) Only your attitude can hinder the communication of God’s grace.

Obedience to God’s commands brought forgiveness to Noah the drunk, Abraham the liar, David the adulterer and murder, Peter the betrayer, to the Corinthians for their debauchery and dissipation and to the thief in his dying moment on the cross.

God’s promises are immutable (Hebrews 6:17). “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16.) A belief that accepts what God says and does what He asks will save anyone.

Remember that you are a part of that world. Remember God’s forgiveness is unlimited.

Harley Todd is pastor of Tooele Church of Christ at 430 W. Utah Ave. in Tooele; Worship services are 10 a.m., 11 a.m. or 6 p.m. on Sundays; Wednesdays at 7 p.m. For more information call 882-4642.