Sunday, March 8th, "Forgiveness"

Collosians tells us that we must forgive as we have been forgiven. This lesson was a hard one for me to learn. It can be very hard to forgive someone who has hurt us. But, Christ commanded us to forgive not just once but seven times seventy. Christ was not telling us to give our trespassers a blank check to continue to do wrong. He was telling his disciples to have an attitude of forgiveness. We ought to forgive easily because our forgiveness from Christ came easy. All we had to do was ask and repent and we were given grace. Why should we with hold grace when we've been given grace freely. Go to Matthew and re-read the parable of the Shrewd Manager. In this story we are reminded that to those whom much are given much is required.

If you have someone you need to forgive I would encourage you to do it right away. Harboring these feelings can destroy friendships, marriages, and even churches. Grudges can build walls a mile high and keep people from entering our churches. Grudges can leave a husband our wife in bondage for decades. Make that call today and extend forgiveness just as you have been given forgiveness by our Heavenly Father.