Ephesians 4:31-32 Amplified Bible
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence]. 32 Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave [a] you.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Luke 23:34-35 The Message
34-35 Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Dividing up his clothes, they threw dice for them. The people stood there staring at Jesus, and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, “He saved others. Let’s see him save himself! The Messiah of God—ha! The Chosen—ha!”
Forgiveness is one of the proofs that God has touched the heart of a man.
We usually hear stuff like “to err is human and to forgive is divine.”
As great as it sounds to some level, in Savior Jesus forgiveness isn’t just a divine responsibility but also human responsibility in response to the Holy Spirit who just strummed the harp strings of your heart and soul distracting your attention away from our instinctive response of our instantaneous meltdown resentment.
How easy is it, nowadays, for humanity to take instant meltdown level offense at misplaced, misspoken misdirected words, thoughts and ideas, criticisms?
How simple is it to randomly encounter someone somewhere, greet them as anyone would with “Sir or Ma’am” and get suddenly get verbally pounded for use of wrong pronouns, “failure to identify or recognize” correct genders?
Start an innocent casual conversation in a checkout line at the supermarket or Walmart, or Target or a restaurant and be prepared for all kinds of rebuttals!
There is no end, no boundaries, no limits to what someone will take offense to!
Even saying sorry or asking for forgiveness might merit a punch in the mouth.
Answers? One of the best ways to move on from hurt isn’t to trash it out with your offender and get satisfied but to pray the moment, overlook the offence, still love the offender, apologize again, and wish the other person a good day.
In the moment when emotions are running the fastest and the hottest, turn it over to God, the Father, and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and pray it:
Forgiveness is not, cannot ever be complete when the love of Christ is missing.
As Christ willingly, sacrificially, bore the max weight of our sins at Calvary …
Romans 5:8-10 Amplified Bible
8 But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Therefore, since we have now been justified [declared free of the guilt of sin] by His blood, [how much more certain is it that] we will be saved from the [a]wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more certain, having been reconciled, that we will be saved [from the consequences of sin] by His life [that is, we will be saved because Christ lives today].
Get this:
- Bear one another’s burden, Bear with people’s offence.
- Like Christ, Forgive their wrongs if you went ahead to bear grievance.
- God forgave you even before you knew you were wrong so forgive others the same way.
Sometimes it is hard to bear with people because our flesh usually wants to get “its pound of flesh,” emotionally satisfied but if we must walk in the light of the life we have received of Christ, we all ought to be in charge of our own emotions instead of letting it run roughshod over us, everyone else, being in charge of us.
The Bible asks, summons us, to follow God’s example of forgiveness.
You, I, we, never asked for forgiveness before God forgave you, I, we and while people were yet in stuck in the cement of our sins, Christ died for our sake!
Comprehending How Unforgiveness Hurts Us All
Ephesians 4:31-32 The Message
31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
If you’re someone who holds grudges, if you keep score and can’t let things go, then you need to know something: You will surely experience suffer in life.
You also will see your prayer life suffer for air and come to a screeching halt.
Forgiveness is the key to all healthy, strong, and lasting relationships. That’s why we must realize how important it is to forgive.
Jesus said,
“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God” (Matthew 5:23–24).
Maybe you’ve decided that you won’t forgive someone who has wronged you. Guess who will be the one to get hurt? You will. Harboring resentment and unforgiveness will hurt you more than the person you’re refusing to forgive.
If you want to be healthy and vibrant spiritually, then you must learn to forgive.
Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” (Matthew 6:12).
You may think they don’t deserve forgiveness.
But then, do you? Do I? No, we don’t.
Our forgiveness doesn’t hinge on forgiving others, but forgiving others should absolutely hinge on God’s gracious and generous forgiveness toward us.
The forgiveness that comes to us from Christ is based on His merit and on His death and His love for us.
If we repeatedly assert and constantly reassert that we know anything about what Christ has done for us, then we should unhesitatingly, forgive others.
The Bible says, “Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).
Forgiven people should be forgiving people.
If we want to be healthy and vibrant spiritually, then we must learn to forgive.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 139:1-12 The Message
139 1-6 God, investigate my life;
get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
then up ahead and you’re there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can’t take it all in!
7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.
Psalm 139:23-24 The Message
23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
then guide me on the road to eternal life.
God, my Father, True or False …
I am authentically ready, able, to forgive others as God first forgave me?
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 