It sometimes appears that many of us don’t fully comprehend what it means to be forgiven. We know what the Bible says about forgiveness in a sort of mental way, but do we actually fully understand and comprehend what this means?

The life of King David gives us a clear example of what it means to be forgiven. He committed two major sins, but the Bible makes it clear that he sincerely repented. (We also read that even after this, there was still a terrible price that he and his family had to pay.)

Some people, especially women, have a hard time accepting the story of David because of his sins. But what did God have to say about him? In 1 Kings 15:3 we are told that King Abijam’s heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, “as was the heart of his father David. Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up a son after him and by establishing Jerusalem; because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” That is an amazing statement, from God Himself.

Then, nearly two hundred years later, the Bible says this about King Ahaz: “He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done.” 2 Kings 16:2 This means that David was not only completely forgiven, but it appears that God chose not even to remember the sin.

So God is interested in full forgiveness. In Jeremiah 31:34 we read, “Their sins I will remember no more.” And in Micah 7:19, “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the seas.” So it isn’t enough to have a vague knowledge of this. We must have a clear, living conviction of being forgiven, or the devil—and yes, even we ourselves—will hold our past against us.

I urge you this Sabbath to consider, not your past sin, but to dwell on how wonderful it is to have been forgiven. Our salvation is amazing! In it we have true inner peace, and we find God-given comfort as we consider the fact that He has really forgiven our sins. When we know and understand the truth about forgiveness, we have joy that “our names are written in heaven”!