Sunday, 1-28-07

Today's Bible Reading: Exodus 19-20; Matthew 18:21-35

Some thoughts and verses on forgiveness to think about...and do!

God has so forgiven us! We need to forgive one another!

Matt 18:21-22
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"

Peter and the others had been arguing about who was the greatest....Perhaps Peter was looking for points from Jesus. Perhaps he thought that Jesus would praise him for his big-heartedness. If so, his expectation wasn't fulfilled. There was something wrong with Peter's approach....and often ours too!

Peter was sounding a lot like the rabbis of the day....they taught that forgiving 3 times was sufficient.

Making the forgiving spirit like a commodity that that could be weighed, measured, and counted; as if could be parceled out little by little up to a certain well defined limit, when further distribution would have to stop.

OK Pete, you want quantity? Try this:

22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Loose count! Thats the idea! We soon realize that forgiveness is not math but a spirit God wants us to possess. A Christ-like spirit. Forgiveness and love go together - you can't have one without the other!

1 Cor 13:4-8
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails.

Wiersbe: By the time we forgive that many times, we are in the habit of forgiving.

Mark 11:25 "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

We have been forgiven so much!

Eph 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

Are you holding today offenses against others? Are you hanging on to anger and bitterness?

These things really hurt us more than those it is directed towards. Unforgiveness eats away your fruitfulness and joy and stops the love of Jesus flowing thru you! Many mental aberations and turmoil are are caused by unforgiveness.

What strength it is to just walk away from the situation; to just leave it, not brood over it or breathe out threats or determine to get even. What a great witness it is when we can forgive.

Having been given so much puts me under obligation to forgive. I have recieved forgiveness thus I must forgive.

Col 3:12-13
12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Be the same towards others as God has been towards you! He has shown us kindness and mercy and grace and forgiveness...what right do we have to not show the same to others?

In His Arm's,

Pat