Forgiving!
Even if someone sins against you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times and says, ‘I am changing my ways,’ you must forgive that person.”
~Luke 17:4, CEB
God was more displeased with Cain despairing of His mercy, than for murdering his brother.
~Lewis Bayly
Cain, who is the father of self-will, believed that his sin was greater than God’s mercy. This is a tragic mistake. God’s mercy is infinite and one drop of Jesus blood can cleanse every sin ever committed. If you could take humankind as one entity, the composite sins of the human race could and has been forgiven in Christ. I am not saying that everyone has recieved this forgiveness, what I am saying is the price Jesus paid is sufficient to cover all our sins. In our text for today, Jesus is obviously talking about our willingness to forgive others, especially those who keep doing the same hurtful things to us over and over. There was a Jewish rabbinic tradition that forgiveness could be limited, and the rabbi’s taught that the limit was three, no more than four. Peter may have thought he was being generous when he said to Jesus, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus basically said, “No, because you are still counting.”
Now, let put the shoe on the other foot. What if the person you are trying to forgive is YOU? Do you keep committing certain sins over and over until you are embarrassed to asks God for forgiveness. God, through Christ has forgiven the sin, no matter how bad the sin or how many times you have committed that sin. Does the fact that we struggle with a certain sin nullify or make void the power of the blood? If we make more of our sin than we do His forgiveness, we have committed a worse sin. In refusing to forgive ourselves, we are saying, “Christ blood is not enough.”
Regret remembers the wound.
Repentance confesses the wound.
Grace cleanses the wound.
Faith quits picking at the scar.
I am the world’s worse at picking at the scar. DBC has been paying my Life Insurance since I retired in 2017. There was some misunderstanding between us and the Annuity Board in Dallas and I thought I had to move the Life Insurance to Grace Point. I knew I had a $150,000 policy. When I checked with Mandy, she told me it was $30,000. I did not go ballistic but immediately I thought “Someone has tampered with my policy and I would like to know who it is.” I was right, someone had tampered with it. Mandy got us the Annuity Board number and my accountant/memory/cook/hearing aid/secretary/cleaning service called. When she hung up she said, “YOU are the one that changed it in 2016.” I don’t understand why I had forgotten all about it but suddenly I remembered; why I did not remember before, I don’t know. It was Jack who tampered with it. Of course I have realized for a number of years that my number one enemy, other than Satan himself, is Jack. He is the biggest problem I have and the very one who gets me into trouble. Our sin is primarily against God and others but it can also be against ourselves. We don’t want to make light of sin, but we want to avoid making our sin bigger than God’s mercy and grace.
- Another great day of mercy and grace at God’s house and we His people. I am thankful.
- Wonderful turn out for the 49ers last Friday. The meal was another feast.
- People have asks me about the MEAL TEAMS. I recruited the leaders who are myself, Terri Widner, Carol Bennich and Vicki Beavers. Each of them are to recruit team members. You can have as many on your team as you like but I am asking you to limit those who are in the kitchen during the service. Our first Wednesday morning service is November 4 at 10:30. Bro. Rick has offered to come and sing for his dinner. He will not be able to make every service. Menu for November 4 is KFC {Kroger Fried Chicken}, November 11 we have chicken stew, November 18 is Pizza and November 25 is BBBQ. No mistake, Buddy’s BBQ.
- Mens Breakfast October 10 at 8:00 am @ Libby’s in Priceville.
- Don’t you love this cool weather and the bright moon. I think this is five morning in a row the the night is not dark because the moon is so bright. You can actually see by the light of the moon.
- Our version of Foghorn seems to be the most popular cartoon. We will try to have the Discouraged Preacher back before the week is over.
Have a great Monday and thanks for reading the blog!!!!
