Thought for Wednesday, October 3rd

October 3, 2012

Being Forgiving

“Only the brave know how to forgive.”

-       Anonymous

    Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Colossians   3:12-15

Do you ever wonder if the forgiveness we say we extend to one another is not sometimes somewhat superficial and frequently short-lived?

It seems that often to receive forgiveness from others we don’t have to just ask for it, but rather we have to live up to some standard or maintain some level or degree of acceptability that is deemed necessary or essential by the another person.

Aren’t you glad God does not put those kinds of restraints on His willingness to forgive us?

The reality is, we should not be doing that with each other either; but sadly so many times we do.

We say we forgive but then we treat the person; supposedly forgiven; as if they are inferior, sub-standard and not really worthy of our time or attention.  We often set some benchmark by which we evaluate their acceptability to be treated with love and respect: when to be in accordance with God’s directive to us we are to love one another without stipulations.

It must break God’s heart to see the way we His children, often treat our siblings in the faith.

Just like God looks at the heart to see the truth and sincerity of our commitment to a relationship with Him: He also looks at the heart to see the depth and honesty of our forgiveness as to whether it is genuine or superficial.  And remember when it comes to the matters of God and the issues of the heart, He says, we must be willing to forgive if we expect to be forgiven.

Today’s Prayer

Father, help me to truly forgive not just in word, but in deed so that I can be forgiven by you.

“Purify my heart

Let me be as gold

And precious silver

Purify my heart

Cleanse me from within

And make me holy

Refiner’s fire

My hearts one desire

Is to be holy

Set apart for You my Master

Ready to do your will.“

-  Lyrics from ‘Refiner’s Fire’ by Brian Doerksen