God's Forgiveness

I was reading in the book of 1 John this morning. It is a really good reminder of what a wonderful God we serve. 1 John 1:8-2:2 says...... If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all righteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. My dear children I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. What a wonderful picture of God's love and mercy. How thankful I am that Jesus gave his life to forgive me of my sins. We ALL mess up at times. We do and say things we shouldn't, but those times do not define us because they do not show a true picture of who we really are. They only show that we are human and because of that sometimes make choices that we shouldn't. I recently saw a tweet by Ed Young that said "You can't take a snapshot of someone's life and build an entire theology about them. It takes a full album"! . He is absolutely correct. You cannot look at a poor choice (or even a few poor choices) someone makes and know enough about their character to see who they truly are. You have to look at their whole life to know that. Nobody is perfect. The question is do we learn from our mistakes and not repeat them? That is really what counts. Today I am glad for this reminder that as children of God He loves us no matter how many times we mess up during this life. That we are all precious in his sight.