​“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”   ~1 John 1:9

This is the biggie for everyone, the one unremitting question, will God ever forgive us? The unequivocal answer is . . . YES! It doesn't matter what we've done, God will forgive us. It's right there in the good book, there isn't any sin that God won't forgive! Jesus died for all sins. That means every person, every wrongdoing, every time; past, present, and future, and every place anywhere in the world. So that pretty much covers everyone— including you and me.

​“And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”   ~1 John 2:2

We all think we are the worst sinner on the planet. That our savored sin is the one sin that God will not forgive. I've felt this way many times in my life. I use to think that my backsliding was the one unpardonable sin that God wasn't going to forgive me for. And believe me, I backslid many times, too many times to count. I'd do something, something I knew was wrong, and then think it was so bad that God would never forgive me, so I'd just give up! I'd give up on God—give up on my only source of, not only forgiveness but empowerment to walk away from future sin.

“Return, you backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings.”   ~Jeremiah 3:22

Walking away and permanently giving up on God is, oddly enough, the only way to not get to heaven. According to the word of God, this is the only "unpardonable sin." It seems that it’s not about what we don't do as much as what we do. We must simply ask for forgiveness and then believe we have received it. There isn't a sin that God won't forgive, all we have to do is ask. If Jesus can forgive the people who killed Him, I’m pretty sure He will forgive you and me for anything we’ve ever done.

God gave us free will, and He will never take this from us. With that said, we must choose to walk away from Him. We have to literally turn our backs on Him because He will never leave us. He wants to lead us in all that we do if only we would follow. That’s a promise, and it's repeated over and over again in His holy word.

“And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”   ~Deuteronomy 31:8

He never turns away from us! When we choose to partake in sin, we are turning away from God and choosing to listen to Satan.

Who ya gonna call?

If we're on the phone of our hearts talking with Jesus, Satan will always get a busy signal. But that won't stop him from redialing. Simply put, we can't be in contact with both at the same time. If we choose to listen to Satan, we must hang up on Jesus. We get to choose who we’re going to listen to, God or Satan!

“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength…”   ~Isaiah 40:31

Yes, I’ve literally walked away from God! I've been so gone for so long that I thought He would never want to hear from me ever again. But to my surprise, He always welcomes me back with open arms, forgives me, wipes the sin off of me, and gives me yet another do-over.

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”   ~Acts 3:19