Our Standards in Forgiveness
Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: [32] And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
They don’t deserve my forgiveness! They’ve not even said they were sorry! They show no remorse at all! Why should I forgive them? They are just going to hurt me again! Have you ever heard anyone make any of these statements? Have you yourself ever made any of those statements? We seem to have certain standards when it comes to forgiving others. We want them to meet a certain criteria before we feel they are worthy of our forgiveness. Does that mean we look at this position of Scripture as a suggestion? How well do we practice vs. 31? How well do we put these things out of our lives? It’s unbelievable sometimes the bitterness we allow to fester in our hearts. People can be so miserable just by holding on to so much bitterness in their heart. That bitterness too often starts out as unforgiveness. Verse 32 tells us to forgive. Not to forgive just because, but “even as God for Christ’s sake bath forgiven you.” God is willing to forgive us regardless of what it is that we’ve done to Him. Regardless of how many times we’ve failed Him, and how many times we might fail Him in the future He is still willing to forgive us. Not even just forgive us, but wipe it all clean. God is not there to give us a guilt trip or hang something over our head. We shouldn’t be that way either. When we harbor unforgiveness and bitterness in our heart we are the one it affects most. We become miserable, and can’t be used of God since we can’t be where He needs us to be when we are disobeying His Word. Do you have bitterness or been speaking evil of someone? Are you harboring unforgiveness? Ask God to help you today to be able to forgive and move on and allow God to heal your relationship with Him.
God bless you today! Bro. Josh Richardson
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