Forgiveness is a large part of Christianity - without Jesus taking the Big One for the team, we would not be forgiven of our sins. Only through forgiveness can we enter His Kingdom - and that means receiving it as well as giving it.
Forgiveness is right there in the Lord's Prayer. What to do, how to do it, and why to do it. I won't beat that point into the ground - I doubt I can top Jesus as far as explanations go.
The forgiveness that isn't discussed as often is the forgiveness we received from God through Jesus - at least not in proportion to how important it is. God's grace is the only way we get to Heaven. None of us deserve it, none of us ever have. None of us have earned it, none of us ever can. It is given to us and we must accept it by accepting Jesus as our Savior.
Sounds simple? It is. He had to keep it simple - we meat puppets tend to be self-absorbed morons.
This forgiveness lasts forever - as long as we continue to proclaim the Lord as our Savior - even after committing 10,000 post-baptism sins. One thing some of us need to be reminded, however, is that this does not give us carte blanche to sin all willy-nilly.
We still need to represent - to live a life that Jesus can at least smirk about if not smile. Don't go jumping naked onto a pile of hookers and think "Doesn't matter, had Christ!" It matters.
Christ's forgiveness is kind of like Scotch-gard for sins - as long as we catch them and clean them up in time (namely repent), we'll stay clean no matter how many spills we have... but don't soak or steep in that sin or the stain on your soul will set.
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