Reading your Bible for Today December 10

December 10: Matthew 12:30-32

KJV Key Verse: Matthew 12:32
32 And whosoever* speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever* speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

Devotion:
It is very comforting to see the words written down which Jesus spoke - “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven”. No matter what we have done in the past, no matter what we have been up to, whether we have been caught or not... God is willing to forgive us of our sins. He has shown this already by giving us His Son to die for our sins.

Imagine going for a job interview where one of the requirements was you had done absolutely nothing wrong at all in your past. You could go for the interview thinking you had done nothing wrong. They would then look up your past in a great book and they would remind you of something you had done as a child to disobey your parents and because of that, you missed out getting the job. If life were that harsh, then we would never find a position in anything! Fortunately, Christ has access to the list of things we have done wrong in that great book. Before we go for the interview, He would be able to rub out all of our listings from the book so our slate would be clean again!

If we are willing to admit to the things we do wrong in our lives, then He is willing to rub them out of that book. If we try to hide them ourselves, then that act itself will also be added to the book! He is the only one who has paid the price for those listings, and He is the only one who is worthy of removing them from the book.

The only one He is not willing to remove is the one of unbelief... That is speaking against the Holy Spirit. He is not willing to forgive us for that sin for as long as we have it! So it is little wonder He will not entertain prayers of forgiveness for people who do not believe in Him. He wants, instead, each one of us to turn away from unbelief and turn towards Him. Simply believing He was born (why do we celebrate Christmas) acknowledging we do wrong and asking for forgiveness is all we need do to ensure that He will take away all of our sins!

Points to Ponder:
Do you forgive people when they say sorry and mean it?

Isn't it wonderful to know that when we say sorry, He listens?