Jesus has a way he wants us to follow to work out our grievances against one another. If I am not willing to follow it, I should keep my mouth shut.
Jesus wants me to have the courage to go to the person, one on one, try to work it out.
I have to decide, is this worth an intervention? If it isn’t, I can just forgive and move on.
Now this is tough, do I want to take it to the whole church?
I don’t think most of us would ever get past step one. Step one is huge though. It forces me to think through do I just forgive and does the person need to know they hurt me.
Having done all that, what should I do? Jesus says start it all over again and focus on God’s forgiving love.
“If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.”
What is important in being thankful? After a long list on how I ought to live, Paul adds “and be thankful”.
Being thankful comes from being compassionate, kind, humble, gentle and patient. Being thankful comes from being clothed in love.
May I be compassionate and kind.
May I love like Jesus.
May I be thankful.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of the Messiah rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of the Messiah dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:12-17 TNIV Bible
Jesus has this way of baffling the religious community. The reaction is “He can’t talk that way” or “He can’t do that”.
When Jesus arrives on the scene, miracles happen and religious people can’t control what he is doing. When Jesus does His outrageous miracles, we rub our eyes.
We’ve never seen anything like this. He is doing what He sees the Father doing. He is bringing heaven to earth. Wow!!!
I have never seen anything like what Jesus can do. May I believe that in my core.
Some religion scholars sitting there started whispering among themselves, “He can’t talk that way! That’s blasphemy! God and only God can forgive sins.” Jesus knew right away what they were thinking, and said, “Why are you so skeptical? Which is simpler: to say to the paraplegic, ‘I forgive your sins,’ or say, ‘Get up, take your stretcher, and start walking’? Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both . . .” (he looked now at the paraplegic), “Get up. Pick up your stretcher and go home.” And the man did it—got up, grabbed his stretcher, and walked out, with everyone there watching him. They rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!” (Mark 2:6-12 The Message)
Robert Schueller says one of his most popular sermons was titled “I Never Knew How Heavy my Luggage was until I Stopped Carrying it.” He asks “What heavy luggage have you been carrying too long? And at what price?
“Old sorrows? It’s time to bury the dead.
Old sins? It’s time to accept Christ’s forgiveness.
Old setbacks? It’s time to believe in beginning again.
Old insults? It’s time to let the past be the past.
Old hurts? Angers? It’s time to accept the spirit of forgiveness. Let God exercise justice.”
God knows what we need to be happy and healthy. He knows what we need in order to love. He will provide for us daily.
God has abandoned the old plan. He has completely left it behind. He did it in Jesus our Master. The old plan kept us short of the goal God has in mind for us.
So, what is the essence of the new plan, His agreement with me?
It is that I will know Him. My friends won’t have to teach me how to do it. I have a relationship with Him through Jesus.
We will all know Him. He doesn’t remember what I was like before. I am absolutely forgiven the debt that couldn’t be paid before anyway.
It is in my heart to do so. It is in my mind all the time. That is it!!
This is the new plan…. ,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my way in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their friends, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their wandering heart and will remember their missing the mark no more.’ Jeremiah 31:31-34
Jesus is impressed by bold belief. Boldness, while it may seem outrageous to us, helps us stand out to Jesus.
Jesus is bold Himself. Rather than say “Be healed”, he says I forgive you.
That didn’t go over too well with the religious types of the day. Too bad, so sad.
Jesus said it and it was true. And with that, the man was healed.
Will I be bold? If so, that impresses Jesus.
And that is a very good thing.
After a few days, Jesus returned to Capernaum, and word got around that he was back home. A crowd gathered, jamming the entrance so no one could get in or out. He was teaching the Word. They brought a paraplegic to him, carried by four men. When they weren’t able to get in because of the crowd, they removed part of the roof and lowered the paraplegic on his stretcher. Impressed by their bold belief, Jesus said, “Son, I forgive your missing God’s goal for your life (sins).” (Mark 2:1-5 The Message)
Our heavenly Father is not stingy with forgiveness. In fact, He is not stingy with anything.
As a Father who loves, he is extravagant with everything. God is love and love forgives without even having to think about it. It is just God’s way. God cares like no one we know.
Sometimes I have felt unforgivable but it is not God’s problem. It is who I am listening to the evil one and my enemy. I have wandered away from God.
God is very lavish with forgiveness. Jesus, the Messiah and our Master, is the way to forgiveness with God. Jesus has redeemed us from a life of missing God’s goal (sin). Jesus challenges us to change our mind (repent) about who is in control. God is God and Jesus is in control (he is King).
May I see it more and more. He is close at hand. He is near.
Seek God while he’s here to be found, pray to him while he’s close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness. Isaiah 55
This is stunning. No riots in Charleston. Prayers and forgiveness.
Nadine Collier, the daughter of 70-year-old Ethel Lance, said at the hearing, her voice breaking with emotion. “You took something very precious from me. I will never talk to her again. I will never, ever hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul.”
“I forgive you.’ Relatives of Charleston church shooting victims address Dylann Roof. The relatives of people slain inside the historic African American church in Charleston, S.C., earlier this week were able to confront the accused gunman Friday at his first court appearance. One by one, those who chose to speak at a bond hearing did not turn to anger. Instead, while he remained impassive, they offered him forgiveness and said they were praying for his soul. I forgive you,”
The bond hearing in North Charleston was the first public appearance of Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old arrested for the shootings, since police booked him into a Charleston County detention center and said he was charged with nine counts of murder.
Roof appeared at the bond hearing in a video feed from the Al Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston, S.C.
At the hearing, Judge James B. Gosnell Jr. said he could not set bond for the murder charges, but said he set bond for $1 million for the charge of possessing a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. He also said Roof would appear in court in October and again in February 2016.
Roof only spoke to confirm his address, age and to state that he is unemployed. While a procession of victims rose to speak, Roof largely started down, his eyes avoiding the camera trained on his face.arlett A. Wilson, the prosecutor for Charleston County, declined to make a statement during the hearing. Attorneys for Roof said they understood that he would not be able to post bond.
Gosnell began the hearing by saying that there was pain on both sides — the victims of the shooting inside the Emanuel AME church as well as the relatives of Roof who are reeling from what happened. He then recited the names of the people killed inside the church, and each time asked if any relatives or representatives of the slain wanted to make a statement in the courtroom.
At one point, one of the people who survived the shooting rose to speak. Felicia Sanders survived the shooting by pretending to be dead,a relative said, but her son, Tywanza Sanders, was killed.
“We welcomed you Wednesday night in our Bible study with welcome arms,” said Felicia Sanders, her voice trembling. “Tywanza Sanders was my son. But Tywanza Sanders was my hero. Tywanza was my hero….May God have mercy on you.”
Some people chose not to speak. Others, like a relative of Myra Thompson, echoed the forgiving sentiment, calling on Roof to repent.
Wanda Simmons, granddaughter of Daniel Simmons, said that the pleas for Roof’s soul were proof that “hate won’t win.”
One by one, they stood to speak, and each time, Roof remained impassive, his eyes cast downward.
Roof was arrested Thursday morning in North Carolina after a florist saw him in his car and called police. On Friday morning, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called the shooting spree “an absolute hate crime” and called on prosecutors to seek the death penalty. Dylann Roof, who faces a court hearing Friday, has been charged with nine counts of murder in connection with an attack inside a historic.
Jesus challenges us to forgive others. It is a clear command and unambiguous.
That is our part to do. When we do, GOD forgives us. He is also clear that if we don’t forgive others, GOD won’t forgive us for missing GOD’s goal for our life.
Really? Yes, really. He said it. I think He meant it.
May I forgive.
May I root resentment out of my heart and life.
“In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.” (Matthew 6:14-15 The Message)
Feeling a certain way is not what God wants. God’s goal for us is that we give up thinking there is anything we can do for missing God’s goal. Forgiveness is completely about God. God sacrificed His son so that we can be forgiven.
We trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. ~~Oswald Chambers
God has chosen us for a new life. It is a life of love. It’s characteristics are:
Compassion
Kindness
Humility
Quiet strength
Discipline
Even tempered
Forgiving
And so, we should wear love everyday. It is a garment we should always put on.
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Colossians 3:12-14
Forgiveness is huge in God’s world. He is love. He forgives us. We must forgive others. Jesus emphasized this over and over. It is in the “model” prayer he gave us. To ignore it is to give our enemy an opening. We don’t want or need that.
God’s goal for us is that we love and forgive. God doesn’t want us to hold grudges.
And so, there must be no delay. We must forgive, over and over. We are forgiven. Let’s get on with it. Now.
The focus of my letter wasn’t on punishing the offender but on getting you to take responsibility for the health of the church. So if you forgive him, I forgive him. Don’t think I’m carrying around a list of personal grudges. The fact is that I’m joining in with your forgiveness, as the Messiah is with us, guiding us. After all, we don’t want to unwittingly give Satan an opening for yet more mischief—we’re not oblivious to his sly ways! 2 Corinthians 2:9-11
And, He is true to His word. We know that we’ve missed God’s goal in our life. God doesn’t see that. He sees Jesus taking that burden off of us.
Once we come clean, he completely purges us from that way of seeing things. It is all washed away as if it was never there before.
I need to remember that and change my mind about how God sees me. I can achieve the goal He has in mind for me. I am His child.
If we claim that we’re free of sin (i.e., missing God’s goal), we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit we miss God’s goal—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive us for missing His goal and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never missed God’s goal, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. 1 John 1:8-10
Easier said than done some days. Someone says something and off I go. I react. I speak. I regret it.
God’s wisdom teaches me to pause. I should forgive what they say. I should forget what they say. Many times we forgive but we don’t forget. If we can forget it, we are truly liberated and free.
His wisdom teaches me to pause.
God’s goal for me is that I know how to hold my tongue.
Smart people know how to hold their tongue; their grandeur is to forgive and forget. Proverbs 19:11
Jesus has set the bar high in some cases. We all want to be forgiven. And God does forgive us.
To receive that in all its fullness, we need to forgive others. We can do that through the power of His Holy Spirit. We are the forgiving people!!
God’s goal for us, as forgiven people, is to forgive as well.
“In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.” ~~Jesus (Matthew 6:14-15 The Message)
Jesus’ mission from God our Father was to bring forgiveness to the world. On the cross, Jesus accomplished the mission. Hanging on the cross, he was mocked by the religious leaders and the Roman soldiers. They gambled to see who would get his clothes. His Holy attitude was they didn’t know what they were doing by killing him. And they didn’t. And neither do we most days. Our missing God’s goal for our life put Him on that cross.
Jesus is all about forgiveness. He knows love like no other. God is in a good mood.
“Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.” ~~Jesus on the crossLuke 23:34
We serve an amazing God. The core of His love is forgiveness. He is always in a great mood and always forgives us.
“How can we ever manage to love unselfishly, to serve humbly and patiently in spite of frustration, if we do not live on God’s forgiveness?” ~~Peter G. vanBreemen
“Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.” – (Galatians 6:1-3, The Message)
None of us ought ever think ourselves so strong, that we have no need for one another, nor that we are above bearing one another’s burdens. As a body of believers, we are called to love, encourage, correct, help, and hold up one another, as Christ freely does unto each of us. We need each other to help encourage and stay the course to which we are called. If one of us begins wander, a gentle correction, presented in love by a sister or brother, is far more likely…
Our heavenly Father is not stingy with forgiveness. In fact, He is not stingy with anything.
