Has anyone ever been shocked and/or flabbergasted by a comment someone made that you thought would never come out of their mouth? Maybe it was a loved one or maybe it was a friend or quite possibly it was someone that you have the utmost respect for. Either way you were either aggravated, shocked, dumbfounded or even hurt by what they said and now you're probably tempted to treat them differently... but should you? This is the question, what do we do when we experience something like this? How many of us judged and condemned Jimmy Swaggart for his early ninety's mistakes? How many of us remembered that we have made mistakes too, but just couldn't get over the offense? Sound off...!
6 comments:
No, we shouldn't treat them differently. We should love them and pray for them and just as God so loved us and forgave us inspite of ourselves, even so, we should love and forgive our brother or sister. 1 Peter 4:8 says: Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (ESV) and Matthew 6:14-15 says: For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (KJV) So, we see then that love covers, and forgives and if we don't forgive then we are out from under the covering that God provided for us thru the shed blood of Jesus on the cross and then no longer under blessing but under a curse. And I don't know about you but I have enough trials without adding to them myself thank-you very much!
I think that it is your response that matters... is your response that might make a difference and is going to help the person either grow in Christ, come to God, re-evaluate how they said something, or handled a situation, or push them away, offend, or further alienate them from you. Proverbs 18:19 says: A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. (KJV) and Proverbs 27:17 says: As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. (NKJV) Our aim should be to help and sharpen our brother or sister not to offend, get even, or alienate. As I stated above love is the key.
Mark 12:30-31 says it well: "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (ESV)
Good topic!
That's all so true touched one, but sometimes it's realy tough to truely forgive someone of an offense. Has anyone ever said to yourself and to God, "I forgive them...", but when you see them again, all you can think about is how angry or hurt you still are by what they said or did? I think that is one of the toughest aspects of forgivness and our walk with Christ. If the offense is great enough (to us) than we often find it more difficult to truely let go and "love" that person again. So the new question is how do I reach the ultimate goal of Godly forgivness; that is forgiving and FORGETTING the offense? SOUND OFF!!!
Some of us were only ten or eleven years old when the swaggert incident happened. But no we shouldn't treat them differently. But we have to be mindful to not let their speech affect ours.
And we also have to forgive as Christ FORGIVES us daily even for our very thoughts. Because when we think it, its the same as saying it aloud.
YES! We must forgive, but how do I do that when the natural part of me doesn't want to? How do I overcome that overwhelming urge to continue to be angry or hurt or upset and etc?
First, we must acknowledge that we have an issue. Too many of us say we don't have an issue in the name of "speaking it into the atmosphere" or "letting it go". Once we acknowledge the problem we need to repent for harboring ill will. 1touchedfromgod said the response is what matters which I agree with somewhat. When your response comes from God, James 3:17 tells us that the wisdom is pure, peacable, gentle, and easily intreated, full of "MERCY" and good fruits, without partiality or hypocrisy. In other words if your response is from the Lord then it will produce good fruit, if not, bad fruit. A reponse can be spoken or thought.
Post a Comment