Tag: forgiveness

FORGIVENESS

As I was gazing out upon the vastness of beautiful, calm Lake Ontario, feeling oneness with the gentle, rolling waves, I happened to read a related Scripture verse.

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.  –Micah 7:18-19  (NIV)

God is so great and loves us all so much. Even when we, like Israel from this Scripture, grumble, complain, and get angry with God, He does not remain angry with us. Instead, God lavishes us with His mercy and compassion. I could envision God stomping on, and then hurling the evil we do out into the depths of the water. The vastness of the water lets us know God remembers our sins no more. The gentle waves reminded me of His compassion and mercy washing over us. Our incredible God is willing to grant us His forgiveness. Continue reading “FORGIVENESS”

LIVE IN PEACE

“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go.  First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”  –Matthew 5:23-24  (ESV)

 

And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well.”  –Mark 11:25  (BSB)

 

Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.  –Romans 12:18 (NLT)

 

Aren’t those some pretty powerful lessons that Jesus is teaching us about how we ought to be living each day in our Christian lives?

 

Continue reading “LIVE IN PEACE”

THE LOVING FATHER

One of the most well known Bible stories, I have to believe, is the one found only in Luke’s gospel which is entitled The Parable of the Lost Son or The Prodigal Son.  I was recently reading some thoughts about the story and agree that it almost seems like a better title for the story would be “The Loving Father.” Continue reading “THE LOVING FATHER”

FORGIVENESS

Recently it really hit me that it is a wonderful thing to ask for forgiveness right away. If you do something that you need to be forgiven for, don’t delay.  Do your part to apologize and rectify the situation as soon as you can.  That way, you will not have that bad feeling hanging over your head.

I will admit I have been stressed about work lately because we are short one worker, meaning there is extra work to do, and I have vacation time to take.  But, somehow I have to get all the work done with working less hours than I had been. There are also several items with certain deadlines to meet.

So, I was at work bright and early on a Monday morning when I got a phone call asking if I was going to take care of some paperwork.  It was a day where my tasks were to be all doing one task, namely payroll.  Anyway, I felt my blood pressure rising as I was talking with this lady.  I could not stop the bad tone or the words that I regretted as soon as I said them.

As soon as I got off the phone, I sent the lady an email apologizing for my bad attitude and basically asking for forgiveness.  It just felt like the right thing to do. Much to my surprise, she responded by saying, “No worries.”  Her responding that way brought me relief.  I did not want  to strain our relationship and have to wonder if she was mad at me whenever we interacted.

origin_10691106926Photo courtesy of Kerolic under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-SA/2.0)

Two days later, bright and early the phone rings again, and it is the same lady. So, I think right away, okay, have a good attitude. But, much to my surprise, when I answered, she jokingly says, “Is this grumpy?” It made us both laugh and start the day off right. To this day, it makes me smile when I think about it or when I talk with this lady.

And, it is a great reminder to make something “right” as soon as you can.  It is a great relief to release it and be free once again.

“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”  –Matthew 6:11-12