“And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. 26. But if you do not forgive, neither shall your Father which is in heaven, forgive your trespasses.”
I read this passage this morning and it arrested my complete attention. It made me stop and think about my own capacity to forgive. This made me think about the “sin of unforgiveness.” (My computer tells me that “unforgiveness” is not a word, but, let us say, that I just coined a new word.) I stopped reading for a few minutes and let my mind roam back over the years, and I wondered if I had forgiven everyone for everything in my life. Folks, that is a daunting task. As I let my mine rove my memory banks, I began to turn up a few interesting rocks, so to speak. That is to say that I had to pause and start doing some fast forgiving. There were people who hurt me that I had to forgive, and worse yet, there were people that I hoped to heaven had forgiven me. I don’t think unforgiveness will send us to hell, but it will sure play havoc with our growth in Christ, and it will surely hinder our witness to a lost and unforgiving world. I want to challenge you to stop what you are doing right now and do the same thing that I just did. Let your mind rove back over your memory banks, and see if there are not a few people that you have really not forgiven. It could be that we do not feel as close to Jesus as we should at times. Perhaps we get a restless feeling sometimes that there is something missing in our lives. Could this be caused by the sin of unforgiveness? (Shut up computer with your red line…But I forgive you - I quickly remembered!) At least it is worth a try. You might find a few rocks in your past that need turning over… . Why should we be forgiving toward others? Well, we have a Savior who has forgiven us for our sins when we did not deserve it. Who are we that we can’t have forgiving hearts? Paul gave us a stark reminder of this in Ephesians 4:32: “And be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” We are to do for others what Jesus did for us on the cross. Think of what your life would be like if Christ had not forgiven you. I hope that I have not upset your morning, or evening, or whenever you read this, but maybe I have just given you the spiritual “shot in the arm” that you needed today. Okay, start turning over those rocks! (So to speak..) Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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