Forgiving Others - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

Gracetoyou.org ^ | 1997 | John McArthur, Grace Community Church

[SheepWhisperer]

Added note to
“It is ALWAYS the one who is harmed that pays the price to reconcile the relationship.”

Human relationships are not always restored.

My view of the two most important character traits in following Jesus are humility and forgiveness.

Humility to say; “I was wrong.” To understand that others also make mistakes.
Forgiveness to give to others what we also need.

But humans are not God.
God embraces us in our humility to Him. God is love.
Humans may not have love and therefore relationship may never be restored.
This restoration is not within our control, however, our own forgiveness releases us from our own prison and allows God to do His work in the matter.

While we cannot compel others to humility, we have our own responsibilities clearly told to us. In this is peace and joy for ourselves in our walk with He who loves us.

[Elsie]

Count me among those who, like the publican, cry for mercy.

[Faith Presses On]

Yes, as the Bible says, Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.

And that is our hope, that He will completely do so.

As He said in Matthew 12:36, every word we say will be judged.

Long after we believe things are “over,” our actions are still producing consequences.

While especially today were encouraged to see talk as cheap and even to feel powerless and frustrated, our words are powerful, as the Bible also says.

We’re actually the product of so many people’s words. Even the casual conversations of our unknown ancestors thousands of years ago are affecting us today.

[metmom]

I’m well aware of the generational sin concept, how the sins of our ancestors affect us, and affected our parents and how they treated us, etc.

However, considering it, the product of all that affects how I treated and continue to treat my own kids and others.

And I’ll do stuff I’ll need them to forgive me for.

It helps tremendously, though, when someone admits their wrong and askes forgiveness or offers restitution, when that is an option.

[Faith Presses On]

I was more thinking of how even small things affect our lives. So even small things and seemingly unimportant conversations of our ancestors in part have led to our lives today. For instance, someone’s life today might have been totally different, but for the fact that an ancestor in 800 A.D., for example, dropped an egg and broke it. Just then, a relative walked in, and they were so annoyed with breaking the egg that they started an argument, and that changed the course of their lives, and the lives of many other people. And God is sovereign over it all.

That view is also in contrast to how we are often instructed to think in our age, in terms of “big historical events” and trends, like the fall of the Roman Empire, the Protestant Reformation, etc. etc.

In both, God is sovereign.