Forgiveness as God Sees It

People repent before God and pray to be forgiven.
Praying to God for forgiveness matters greatly, of course.
But forgiveness as God sees it
is showing him a life lived as one who has been forgiven.
If a child only clings to their mother and cries, begging her to say she forgives them,
the mother will scold the child all the more and will not forgive.
But if the child does as the mother says,
she will forgive the child.
What counts is showing the mother that the child is living rightly.
In the same way, it is important for us to pray for God’s forgiveness,
but emptying our hearts completely and living for him as forgiven people matters more.
If we want to be forgiven by God, we must live as those whose sins are forgiven.
And if we believe that God has already given us not only forgiveness but grace,
and live that way, our future will shine all the more in grace.
It is the courage
that puts patience and faith
into action.