For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

— Hebrews 10:14

Before I became a Christian, I believed whole-heartedly that there were many ways to God—different paths, each as valid as the next. In fact, I was so vehement that I designed a logo representing it and had it tattooed onto my body. Now, that’s commitment. 

But, thankfully, the Lord was leading me to the Truth. And, after three decades of going to church (because my “path” was Catholicism), I heard the Gospel for the first time. I truly understood that through Jesus, my sins were paid, and I was made righteous in the eyes of a God that requires perfection. 

Even after I heard the Truth, I questioned God…surely, He wouldn’t condemn all those Baha’i, Buddhists, and Muslims who are just as passionate about their path to Heaven. How could Christianity be so narrow-minded? Couldn’t there still be many ways to God? 

So, on the front steps of my newfound church, I asked that question of the pastor. And he explained a simple, profound truth: Within all the world religions, people must work to earn heaven—they must pursue “good enough” by their own efforts and deeds. Not so with Christianity. By what He accomplished on the cross, Jesus Christ paid in full the cost of eternal life with God. There’s nothing we can do to earn it or be good enough. We are sinners, and the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:23).

Jesus paid our debt, stamping it, “Paid in Full”—we owe nothing…and everything. In fact, when Jesus cried from the cross, “It is finished,” the original word equates with a debt being satisfied. 

Others do and do and do, never to be perfected. Christians, however, have been made perfect and holy because He paid it all for us. It’s done. We don’t have to work for our salvation—and fail repeatedly. Instead, in response to what Christ did, we do good—not to earn but in grateful response. 

So, I added the word Teleo to my “tattoo testimony.” It translates from Greek into, “I am complete.” 

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. ~ Ephesians 4:32

The Bible says a lot about forgiveness. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus and the Epistle writers command believers forgive. But often, we believe that “forgiving” equates with “condoning”—and that forgiveness negates the associated pain of the wrong. But that’s not the case.

The thing is, forgiveness is a choice—not a feeling. And true forgiveness, although it is a gift to the other person, frees our own soul from the destructive burden of bitterness and anger.

About this time several years ago, a virtual bomb was dropped in my life—a revelation of truth that devastated my very soul. I was more hurt and angrier than I thought possible. And no one would have faulted me for wrapping a firm grip around bitterness, never to let go.

Instead, within a matter of hours—in the midst of the shock, horror, pain, and disbelief—I did something unexpected. I chose to forgive.

Please know this was not of my own power—it was not humanly possible. It was the Holy Spirit, living in me, that gave me the supernatural ability to make that decision. In the middle of my pain, He convicted my spirit with five simple words that still burn within today: “How dare you not forgive?”

See, my life is daily filled with sin. I am a sinner. But Jesus stretched out His arms on that cross to pay the penalty I owe. Yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s sins are all forgiven and thrown into the sea of forgetfulness. We who accept the precious gift of salvation are made white as snow even though our sins are as scarlet. (Isaiah 1:18) 

When you consider people in your life who have wronged you, you may think, “But that person’s sin is way worse than mine—they hurt me!” But in God’s economy, every sin is an imperfection that stains the perfect righteousness required by a perfect God. And every sin hurts Him too. 

We are forgiven. Because of what Jesus accomplished—His pain and suffering on our behalf, His amazing mercy and grace—how can we not extend that same grace, mercy, and forgiveness to another?

Because we are forgiven through Christ, let’s choose to be forgiving through Christ.