THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS!
Have you ever felt like this before?… If someone does me wrong, I will forgive them, but if they keep doing it, especially more than once during the same day, that’s where I draw the line. Listen to what Jesus said regarding this subject.
(Luke 17:1-4 NLT) One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting! It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. So watch yourselves!
“If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”
Jesus said, even if that person wrongs you seven times a day, but each time turns and asks for forgiveness that we must forgive. When reading this in context, we realize this thing of forgiving a weak brother or sister who keeps failing is actually very serious. Jesus says, if you don’t forgive that person you could be a source of temptation that makes them fall and it would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. Apostle Paul also spoke about how we should treat someone who is spiritually weak.
Rom 15:1-4 (NIV) We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Maybe there’s someone in your life who keeps hurting you or failing you in some way. I pray that this word will be an encouragement for you today to press into the forgiveness of God for your own life so that you can forgive your weak brother or sister. After the disciples heard Jesus discourse on forgiving a weak brother, they said to the Lord, “ Show us how to increase our faith.” They understood that this was not an easy task and asked for help from the Lord! They were right!…forgiving in this kind of situation is not easy! I pray that you will also go to the Lord and ask for an increase of faith in this area, because it ultimately is an act of God through you made possible by faith. The power to forgive comes from living as one who is forgiven! It is time for the power of the love of God to overcome us! It is time to step into...