Article October 13, 1986 Issue

"Forgive me, Father"

Is repentance just being sorry? Or is it a deeper recognition of our real relationship to God?

Julio C. Rivas T.

How often we yearn to be forgiven by God for our sins! Yet it sometimes seems that we are nothing but sinners when we try and try to get rid of our weaknesses and find that we repeat the same offenses. A sincere desire to forsake evil is a type of prayer. But to vanquish stubborn sins we need to gain a deeper understanding of who we really are as the children of God. This understanding strengthens our efforts to abstain from evil and breaks the illusory chains of carnal bondage.

There is not a sin that is beyond the healing power of Love. No matter how dark, repetitive, or ingrained our moral fault appears to be, Christ is able to destroy it. The compassion and healing promise of God is expressed in Isaiah: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."^{Isa. 1:18.}

God's vast love and forgiveness were clearly understood and demonstrated by Christ Jesus. It is divine Love that gave him the authority to say, "Thy sins are forgiven thee."^{See Luke 5:20.} He proved the healing power of divine Love with the woman who washed his feet with her tears in the Pharisee's house, with the man sick of the palsy, and with the man at the pool of Bethesda. Each one of these individuals must have been ready, at least to some degree, to drop off the old ways and be lifted to a more spiritual way of life. With spiritual insight and love Jesus healed them of their sins and physical difficulties. Speaking of the source of his good works, Jesus explained that it was the heavenly Father working in him; therefore, we can conclude that his forgiveness of sinners came from divine Love, God.