This is a section from a book by Angela Thomas called When Wallflowers Dance that really resonated with me. This woman is proclaiming such beautiful truth.
"Here’s how I have come to feel about the pursuit of a clear conscience. Either the forgiveness that God has promised to us is halfhearted and conditional, based on some unattainable, unknown standard of self-flogging and sustained guilt, or His forgiveness really forgives—instantly, eternally, and completely.
Either I believe that forgiveness is what God said—free, available to any who would call on His name, and completely able to cleanse the impure heart—or I don’t really believe God. Either God can make you clean or He is not God.
I am staking my whole life on the belief that God is who He says He is. Jesus is really His Son, my Savior. His death was enough to pay the penalty for every sin. His resurrection was the proof of His divinity. The Holy Spirit is His promised gift to you and me for day-by-day, moment-to-moment guidance. And for some reason that doesn’t make any sense to anybody, God is so crazy in love with His creation that He freely forgives any who would ask. In case you haven’t thought about it lately, when the God of heaven and earth forgives there is nothing that can happen to make it less, and there is nothing you can do to make it more. Forgiven in the name of Jesus means your conscience is clear.
That truth is why we get down on our hands and knees and worship the only One who is able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That’s why we show up at church and persuade our friends to come to Bible studies and try to rearrange our lives around God. That’s what makes God amazing and takes our breath away at His generosity. That is why we sing and lift our hands to thank Him for the gift of being forgiven. When God bends down in His mercy and forgives a helpless, little, beat-up woman like you or me, then no matter what anyone says or how many voices you hear in your head or how long it takes you to believe it, you have been made clean.
You are forgiven.
It’s time to hold your head up.
It’s time to dance."
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