# “His forgiveness is holy” by Ed Welch

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2008/11/17/his-forgiveness-is-holy-by-ed-welch/
- Published: 2008-11-17T16:47:59-06:00
- Author: tollelege

“No doubt you have wronged other people in your life and they have forgiven you.
That is certainly an expression of the grace of God. But don’t use the experience
of human forgiveness to understand the forgiveness of God. Remember: we have been
enemies of God. We still find the seeds of rebellion in our hearts everyday; we 
didn’t even seek God and beg His forgiveness, yet He is pleased to forgive.

One common feature of all world religions, except for the religion revealed in the
Old and New Testaments, is that the gods demand some kind of human penance when 
they are wronged. Human beings must pay the gods back by giving more money, adhering
to proper rituals, going through some form of self-punishment, or practicing some
means of works righteousness.

When religions are shaped by the way people treat one another, such a system is 
unavoidable. The psalmist knows this. He knows that all other gods keep records 
of who has been naughty and who has been nice. But God is holy, and his forgiveness
is holy. Nothing can compare to it. As a result the psalmist says, ‘If you, O LORD,
kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness;
therefore You are feared’ (Ps. 130:3-4).

Do you ever think that your sins are too bad, and that forgiveness for those sins
requires you to get your act together first? If so, you don’t fear God. You are 
minimizing his forgiveness. You are acting as though his forgiveness is ordinary,
just like that of any person or make-believe god. In contrast, the fear of the Lord
leads us to believe that when God makes promises too good to be true, they are indeed
true.”

–Ed Welch, _Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest_ (Greensboro, NC: New
Growth Press, 2007), 194-5.

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[Forgiveness](https://tollelege.net/category/forgiveness/)