You Are Forgiven

Today was Parking Ticket Forgiveness Day at my university. Why is this important? Well, it’s important to students that whether intentionally, or unintentionally make a mistake and receive a parking violation. More specifically it is important to me, because I am one of those students who intentionally parked in a place I shouldn’t have. That’s right, I said intentionally, I knew that I was parking in a spot that was not my designated area, but I also knew the risks or so I thought.

A few Fridays back I parked in an empty faculty spot at the building where I work on campus, during parking enforcement time. I thought it would be okay, because I had parked there many times before and never received a violation, and the parking lot always has many open spots. Plus, it was better than having to park on the other side of campus and walk a long ways. I also thought, even if they did ticket me it would only be $20. Unbeknownst to me however, ticket prices had doubled this year, so when I returned from work I had a $40 violation on my windshield. At that moment I realized that was more high a price than this college student was willing to pay. From that point on, I didn’t park in that spot during enforcement time any more, but I still tried to justify what I had done.

I tried to justify parking in a place I wasn’t supposed to. I came up with reasons why it was okay, in hopes that I could convince someone at the university to take the violation away. I had valid excuses, such as I have to load items from my personal car to the work vehicle (that was parked beside my car), then back again when I returned from work. I also return back from work late sometimes, close to 8 or 9 PM and it’s not the safest thing to have to walk across campus at night to my car. These all seem like valid excuses to me, but still I had done something I knew I shouldn’t have. So, I still had a steep $40 violation on my account that wasn’t going to go away. That’s why that one word, forgiveness, sounded so great.

Parking Ticket Forgiveness Day is a day that our student government association collects donations of household supplies for a local charity. In return for a donation of a few new unopened household supplies, they will forgive one parking violation on a student’s record. So, for about $6 of supplies, I was able to be forgiven of a $40 fine. To know that I am forgiven of that fine, lifts a weight off of my shoulders.

My Parking Ticket Forgiveness Day experience reminds me a lot of my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I know for me, that I sometimes forget that I have been forgiven of my sins. I lose sight of the fact that I no longer have to hold on to them, or fear them, or worry about them, because of what Christ has done. The Bible says in Colossians 2:13-14: “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” In this verse, those of us that are saved by grace though faith in Jesus, are reminded that God has nailed our debt (Jesus, who took on our death; which is the wages of sin) to the cross and we are forgiven! In Matthew 26:28 Jesus says: “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus poured out his life on the cross to forgive us of all our sins, so that we could be made pure in the eyes of God and have a right relationship with him and Jesus forever.

Sometimes, I try to justify my sins, just like I tried to justify where I parked. I think if we are honest many of us would admit that we are guilty of this. We try to rationalize our sin, we hang on to it, and the enemy pulls it back to the front of our minds and uses it as a spiritual weapon against us. To keep us from growing closer with Christ. I think that 1 John 1:9 is a great reminder of why we should let go of and not try to rationalize confessed sins. “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. If the word of God says that if we confess our sins, he will forgive them; then we should believe that he will, and we should let go of them. Tonight I am reminded that the sin I am holding on to, God has already forgiven, Jesus has already paid for, and I need to let go of it and let it be nailed to the cross. So that in being forgiven, I may draw closer to God.