In Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus tells us that if we forgive others who sin against us, God will forgive us, but if we don't forgive others, God won't forgive us. Similarly, Luke 6:37 warns us A) don't judge and we won't be judged, B) don't condemn and we won't be condemned, and C) forgive and we will be forgiven.
I don't feel that this passage gets a lot of the limelight in sermons. It's much more comfortable to preach that God forgives us when we repent, but this passage makes us uncomfortable. Suddenly, our own forgiveness from God is linked to if we forgive others who wrong us.
But this isn't an isolated text. Jesus also told the parable of the Unmerciful Servant (NIV heading) or the Unforgiving Debtor (NLT heading). In that parable, we see that when someone has had their debts forgiven by the King, but go on to lack compassion, mercy, and forgiveness for a fellow person, then that unforgiving person will be punished.
Who do you need to forgive?
How have you withheld forgiveness from someone?
In what ways has God shown you mercy, but you failed to show mercy to others?
No comments:
Post a Comment