Mat 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Bonhoeffer- 'Every day Christ's followers must acknowledge and bewail their guilt. Living as they do in fellowship with him, they ought to be sinless, but in practice their life is marred daily with all manner of unbelief, sloth in prayer, lack of bodily discipline, self-indulgence of every kind, envy, hatred and ambition. No wonder that they must pray daily for God's forgiveness. But God will only forgive them if they forgive one another with readiness and brotherly affection. Thus they bring all their guilt before God and pray as a body for forgiveness. God forgive not merely me MY DOUBTS, but US OURS.'
My thoughts--
Our Savior tells us to pray-
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
We NEED to be forgiven, without forgiveness we have NO hope at all whatsoever!
Yet we must forgive others.
We NEED our sins forgiven daily and that means we have to forgive others daily.
We need to forgive all the sins of others towards us. All the anger directed towards us, all the insults, all the irritations, all the ire that is expressed in the thousands of ways it is given to us, we must forgive. From the TINIEST annoyance, to the BIGGEST grievance. We MUST forgive. We can't wait to only forgive the worst of sins committed against us. We have to forgive every single one! We MUST! To do otherwise would mean that our sins tiny and huge will not be forgiven. It's IMPOSSIBLE to expect forgiveness that we in no way deserve, if we will not extend forgiveness to others who in NO WAY deserve it! That is the entire center of forgiveness- it is UNDESERVED!
All too often our first response to the trespass against us irritation, it's almost automatic. The moment we feel that irritation we've stopped loving our neighbor, our brother. And the forgiveness we need for THAT trespass in response to their trespass, is just as important if we'd been the one to commit the first trespass.
We need to be FORGIVING and yet we are so far from FORGIVING.
Did our Savior first get angry at the woman who was caught in adultery before forgiving her? Did He, in fury respond to those possessed by demons before forgiving them and casting out the demons? Did He first get irritated with any before the forgiveness He gave? On the cross, did He spit and howl at His murderers before asking His Father to forgive them? NO! He forgave them NEVER sinning before doing so!
Our Savior is our example in all things.
We need to be FORGIVING of OTHERS! Truly FORGIVING of OTHERS and not begrudgingly forgiving but INSTANT in forgiving! If not instant we need to ask for forgiveness for our own lack of forgiving compassion. That's what it really is. Recognizing the need of forgiveness. To forgive we must recognize our need to forgive and as soon as we are shown that need, we must forgive! To allow our responses to be instant in anger and retaliation rather than love and compassion resulting in forgiveness, is wrong of us and we truly need to ask our Savior to open our hearts, our spiritual eyes to the need of forgiving others- instantly, and if not instantly then as soon as we are convicted that we need to forgive them. And we may even need to ask forgiveness from them for our lack of forgiving them and our sinful response to their sin towards us.
Remember this…
Mat 18:21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Mat 18:22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
We NEED TO FORGIVE!
We need to learn to forgive and the first step is recognizing our need to forgive. Those who are HURTING us with their sinning against us do NOT deserve our response of sinning in return. We NEED to FORGIVE them!
Is this what our Savior means when we are turning the other cheek? When we are giving not only our cloak but our coat as well? When we are not only walking one mile but five, ten, fifteen? When we are reviled, and ridiculed, persecuted and in response we only …. LOVE?
Please LORD, please help us to FORGIVE, because it's only THROUGH YOU we can FORGIVE.
Bonhoeffer- 'Every day Christ's followers must acknowledge and bewail their guilt. Living as they do in fellowship with him, they ought to be sinless, but in practice their life is marred daily with all manner of unbelief, sloth in prayer, lack of bodily discipline, self-indulgence of every kind, envy, hatred and ambition. No wonder that they must pray daily for God's forgiveness. But God will only forgive them if they forgive one another with readiness and brotherly affection. Thus they bring all their guilt before God and pray as a body for forgiveness. God forgive not merely me MY DOUBTS, but US OURS.'
My thoughts--
Our Savior tells us to pray-
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
We NEED to be forgiven, without forgiveness we have NO hope at all whatsoever!
Yet we must forgive others.
We NEED our sins forgiven daily and that means we have to forgive others daily.
We need to forgive all the sins of others towards us. All the anger directed towards us, all the insults, all the irritations, all the ire that is expressed in the thousands of ways it is given to us, we must forgive. From the TINIEST annoyance, to the BIGGEST grievance. We MUST forgive. We can't wait to only forgive the worst of sins committed against us. We have to forgive every single one! We MUST! To do otherwise would mean that our sins tiny and huge will not be forgiven. It's IMPOSSIBLE to expect forgiveness that we in no way deserve, if we will not extend forgiveness to others who in NO WAY deserve it! That is the entire center of forgiveness- it is UNDESERVED!
All too often our first response to the trespass against us irritation, it's almost automatic. The moment we feel that irritation we've stopped loving our neighbor, our brother. And the forgiveness we need for THAT trespass in response to their trespass, is just as important if we'd been the one to commit the first trespass.
We need to be FORGIVING and yet we are so far from FORGIVING.
Did our Savior first get angry at the woman who was caught in adultery before forgiving her? Did He, in fury respond to those possessed by demons before forgiving them and casting out the demons? Did He first get irritated with any before the forgiveness He gave? On the cross, did He spit and howl at His murderers before asking His Father to forgive them? NO! He forgave them NEVER sinning before doing so!
Our Savior is our example in all things.
We need to be FORGIVING of OTHERS! Truly FORGIVING of OTHERS and not begrudgingly forgiving but INSTANT in forgiving! If not instant we need to ask for forgiveness for our own lack of forgiving compassion. That's what it really is. Recognizing the need of forgiveness. To forgive we must recognize our need to forgive and as soon as we are shown that need, we must forgive! To allow our responses to be instant in anger and retaliation rather than love and compassion resulting in forgiveness, is wrong of us and we truly need to ask our Savior to open our hearts, our spiritual eyes to the need of forgiving others- instantly, and if not instantly then as soon as we are convicted that we need to forgive them. And we may even need to ask forgiveness from them for our lack of forgiving them and our sinful response to their sin towards us.
Remember this…
Mat 18:21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Mat 18:22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
We NEED TO FORGIVE!
We need to learn to forgive and the first step is recognizing our need to forgive. Those who are HURTING us with their sinning against us do NOT deserve our response of sinning in return. We NEED to FORGIVE them!
Is this what our Savior means when we are turning the other cheek? When we are giving not only our cloak but our coat as well? When we are not only walking one mile but five, ten, fifteen? When we are reviled, and ridiculed, persecuted and in response we only …. LOVE?
Please LORD, please help us to FORGIVE, because it's only THROUGH YOU we can FORGIVE.
No comments:
Post a Comment