“For if you forgive
others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you. But if you do not forgive others,
then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matt. 6:14-15).
Hey Gang: Read it
again and again and again until it sinks deep into the recesses of your heart
and mind and soul. Notice: You choose! Will you allow God to forgive you for your
transgressions by your willingness to forgive others transgressions?
In recent years I have become a word and phrase reader. Now, I know that sounds strange but let me
explain. At 82 years of age I find it
more difficult to memorize Scripture but I can research words and phrases to
the point where they become engrained in my mind and heart. As an example, the phrase “in the same
measure” has become very important to me.
Jesus used this phrase several times when he wanted his kids to know we
have the control of implementation of His commandments, statutes and laws.
Note Jesus words: “Do not judge so that
you will not be judged. For in the way you judge you will be judged, and by
your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” Luke wrote: “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure –
pressed down, shaken together and running over. (6:38). And, “For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in
return.”
(Matthew 7:1-2).
If you could research my past and suggest to the educators,
that had their opportunity to fill my head with knowledge, and ask them, “Would
it be possible for this Hillbilly kid to one day write more than 720 morning
messages?’ You would receive a resounding “NO WAY!”
As I thought about the subject “forgiveness” I remembered a
morning message that I wrote in the early tenure of the blogs titled, “Satan
Had a Garage Sale”. My premise was that Satan offered all his hateful tools to
the highest bidder. But there were two,
off to the side, with a sign: “Not for
Sale”.
When I asked why, he said because it (forgiveness) along with
discouragement are my most effective tools and I would never part with
them. You see, unforgiveness and
discouragement are like cancer, they eat the heart out of the person who
harbors those feelings. But, there is a
great pain attached to these maladies; there is a direct relationship between
our capacity to forgive others and God’s willingness to forgive us.
We pray, “Forgive our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” but do we really
want God to forgive us in the same measure that we forgive others? There is another phrase that got my
attention as I researched - “He gave
them over”. I believe this phrase is
closely attached to the “in the same
measure” phrase.
In other words, forgiveness is an “act of the will” issue. We
have to look in the mirror and ask the question, “Am I so perfect that I can
harbor evilness (and unforgiveness is evilness) towards another person? Especially when we remember that God so loved
each of us that He sent His only Son to provide a way for us to be freed from
the bondage of our sins. John wrote, “If someone says, ‘I love God, and hates
his brother, he is a liar, for the one who does not love his brother whom he
has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen? (I John 4:20).
Sooooo, my friends, I
close with a person confession: As a
hillbilly kid transplanted from the back country of Pennsylvania to the big
city, I arrived at school with a bull’s eye on my back. I was skinny, had buck teeth, wore clothes
that were not the fad of the day, and was extremely laid back.
The local bully’s
club voted me the most likely to be a good target for their animosities. I speak of unforgiveness from a personal
standpoint. I learned at that time what
true hatred was. I don’t remember when
the message got through to my heart that the person paying the Piper, for that
hatreds and unforgiveness, was the person I looked at every day in the mirror.
But this I do remember, when I came to the realization I
could not handle that sin and turned it over to Abba Father, it was like seeing
the sun for the first time in my life. I
also learned that is was a bondage that had been passed down through the
generations of my father. A bondage that
I was privileged to see him delivered from.
“For if you forgive
others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you. But if you do not forgive others,
then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matt. 6:14-15).
Blessings,
No comments:
Post a Comment