Tag: jesus

Desiring God’s Word MORE THAN Gold – 2025 Day 286

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 74, Psalm 19

This semester, I’m memorizing Psalm 19 with our local Community Bible Study group. Psalm 19:10 says that God’s Word is to be desired MORE THAN gold, MORE THAN much FINE GOLD, which reminded me of something I learned when I was in Ohio this fall at a training conference for LifeWise program directors. They mentioned that one reason it’s hard to ask people for financial support is because our nation idolizes money; therefore, we treat it like an idol, tiptoeing around it and fearful of getting too close to it. Ouch.

In his book, “The Watchmen,” Mark Cahill wrote, “People traveled all across America to get to the West Coast for the Gold Rush, but would you walk two steps over to your bookcase and crack open the eternal Word of God which is more precious than gold?” Double ouch.

How often do we choose the pursuit of money
over the pursuit of God?

Which reminds me of Revelation 3:15-18, a passage I memorized last year with Community Bible Study, during our study of Revelation.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

Would you like to work on hiding God’s Word in your heart, too? Here are some graphics I created for Psalm 19:7-10 to help me (and the youth) commit it to memory.

“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

  • Psalm 19:7a
  • Psalm 19:7b
  • Psalm 19:8a
  • Psalm 19:8b
  • Psalm 19:9a
  • Psalm 19:9b
  • Psalm 19:10

If you’d like a printable PDF of all the graphics, you can download it here.

Psalm 19 7-10Download

Let’s pursue the TREASURE of God’s precious Word, faithfully and diligently storing it up in our heart, that we might not sin against Him.

If you’d like to support my local LifeWise program, I’d certainly appreciate it. Click here for my local program, or click here to find a program in your area.

Psalm 19 – Sounds like Reign

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Serving our Enemies’ Gods – Judges 10 – 2025 Day 275

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 63, Judges 10

Have you ever thought about this – God brought His people into the Promised Land, an abundant land flowing with milk and honey, yet the Israelites ended up worshipping the gods of the very people God sent them to conquer?

God wanted the Israelites to drive out those idol-worshipping nations, but instead the Israelites joined in worshipping those idols themselves.

How often are we guilty of these very same things? How often are we Christians bowing to the idols of our culture – the idols of sports and wealth and comfort and fame? How often do we give Jesus our leftovers – after giving the world our time, talents, and treasures – rather than seeking Him first and giving Him our best?

Repent and return to Him today.

He who did not spare his own Son
but gave him up for us all,
how will he not also with him
graciously give us all things?

Romans 8:32 ESV

Heavenly Father, Forgive us for presuming on Your kindness. Your kindness is to lead us to repentance. Forgive us for our whoring and adultery. We have chased after idols, false gods that can never deliver what they promise. We have turned to the world that You created and turned our backs on You, our Creator. Forgive us. Cleanse our hearts and hands and renew a right spirit in us. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Sinless Lamb who was slain for our sins, we pray. Amen.

Christus Victor (Amen) – Keith and Kristyn Getty, Cochren & Co

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Sins of Ignorance – Leviticus 4-5 – 2025 Day 141

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 141; Leviticus 4-5

The Lord here provides specific directions for how to atone for unintentional sins, sins of ignorance. This reminded me of so many other passages, like Paul’s beautiful testimony from 1 Timothy 1:12-16,

“I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”

Listen to Jesus’s words when He was being crucified,

“Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do.”

Luke 23:34

But what about when you continue willfully in sin? Or what about those who have heard the gospel again and again and yet they choose to turn their back on God?

“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Hebrews 10:26-31

Let’s stop questioning what God will do with those who have never heard the gospel, and instead ask ourselves, “Am I prepared to meet God? Am I in willful disobedience to the Word of God? Am I being faithful to share the good news and make disciples where God has placed me?”

Will you join me in prayer?

Heavenly Father, I, for one, am not ignorant. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Even when I was darkness, running away from You, You had written Your law on my heart. I knew that it was wrong to lie. I knew that it was wrong to say hateful things about other people. I knew that it was wrong to slander and gossip. I knew it, but I did it anyway. Thank You for saving me while I was yet a sinner. Thank You for sending Jesus to die in my place, to be the sacrificial lamb who died outside the camp, who bore my sin and shame.

Now let me take this knowledge and share it with others, so that they will not meet You in ignorance. I pray also for those who have heard the truth and have willfully rejected it, who are intentionally running away from You today. Please, Lord, save them! Draw them to Yourself. Send Your Word, Your angels, and Your children into their path. May Your courts be filled with people from every tribe and tongue from around the globe. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the only Name that saves, Amen.

In the Light – Shane and Shane

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The Whole Truth of the Easter Story – Matthew 13 – 2025 Day 98

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 66, Matthew 13

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:47-50

From beginning to end of Matthew 13, Jesus was faithful to tell the whole truth, not just half the truth, for half the truth isn’t really the truth. If you only say, “When you die the angels will come and take you to heaven,” but you don’t also explain that all the evil people (that’s you and me apart from faith in Christ!) will be thrown into the fiery furnace, you are not really telling the truth.

Friends, please know that I’m writing these words to myself, because I need to hear them, but I hope they will encourage you as well. I want so desperately for people to be saved, that sometimes I only want to tell them the “Happy News about Eternal Life” … but the truth is that no one can fully appreciate the good news of the gospel until they’ve understood that every single one of us are sinners who deserve hell apart from the saving work of Jesus Christ.

So long as you think that you are a good person, that you are going to heaven by your own merit, then, who needs Jesus?

May the words of Christ fall on fertile soil and bear much fruit! Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your grace in telling us the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Thank You for explaining to us that every one of us is a sinner deserving of hell. Thank You for the best news I’ve ever heard – that Jesus Christ paid the price for my sin by His death on the cross, and that by believing in Him I have been saved from the fiery furnace of hell and will live with You in heaven for all eternity. This is truly the most awesome, wonderful, fantastic, marvelous news I could ever hear! May we share this truth every day of the year, but especially this weekend as we remember the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus, my Savior, I pray, Amen.

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The Birth of Christ Fulfilled Prophecies – Matthew 2 – 2025 Day 87

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Matthew 2; Psalm 55

In reading Matthew 2, I was struck by how often Matthew said that these events fulfilled the words spoken by the prophets. For Matthew, as a Jewish man, this confirmed for him that Jesus truly was the long-awaited messiah.

For me, as a former atheist, I have a different reaction. My reaction is that God’s Word must be true! God must know what will happen in the future if He can send prophets to foretell it. And God must be all powerful and sovereign over the events of Earth, if He is able to achieve His perfect will.

As Dr. Tim Chaffey wrote in an article titled “Fulfilled Prophecies of Jesus’s Birth” published on Answers in Genesis’ website, “There are no prophecies foretelling details about the birth of other religious leaders. No prophecies alerted the world to the coming of Muhammad (Islam), Joseph Smith (Mormonism), David Koresh (Branch Davidians), Charles Taze Russell (Jehovah’s Witnesses), Siddhartha Gautama (Buddhism), or any other founder of the world’s religions. Yet the Old Testament pinpointed numerous details about the life of the Son of God and Savior of the world. So what do these prophecies tell us about Jesus? In just the first two chapters of Matthew, we see that God foretold the virginal conception of the Messiah, who would be born in Bethlehem, yet in some way would come out of Egypt and be called a Nazarene. We also see that bitter agony would grip the mothers in that area.” Read the full article here

Please pray with me.

Heavenly Father, please grow our faith in your Word. Help us to trust that You know what is coming and that You are the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth. No purpose of Yours can be thwarted. You are working all things together to accomplish Your purposes and to glorify Your name.

I pray that we would especially remember that when times look dark like when fires and tornadoes devastate whole communities and it feels like the whole world is “going to hell in a hand basket.” You are still on Your throne.

I pray that we, as your children, will seek Your face and be honorable vessels for Your good use.

It is in the name of Jesus Christ, the long-awaited messiah, that we pray, Amen.

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By Faith – Keith and Kristyn Getty

Good Things and Bad People – Job 22 – 2025 Day 72

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Job 22; Psalm 41

Have you ever struggled with why “bad things happen to good people”? I believe the simple answer to that question is, “Truly there are no good people. We’re all downright bad. None of us deserve anything that the Lord gives to us out of His grace.” But, today when reading Job 22, I found myself thinking about a slightly different question, “Why do good things happen to bad people?”

They said to God,
“Depart from us,” and
“What can the Almighty do to us?”

Yet He filled their houses with good things…

Job 22:17-18a ESV

Why does God allow the sun to shine and the rain to fall on both the evil and the good, like we read in Matthew 5:45? Why is the LORD good to all, and why does He have mercy on all that He has made? (Psalm 145:9) Why do the wicked prosper like we considered in yesterday’s reading of Job 21?

I think one reason is that when God saves and blesses bad people (like each and every one of us), so that we can display His immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:1-7 ESV

Like Job, and David, and Paul, the Lord inclined Himself to me and heard my cry and drew me out of the pit of destruction that I had dug for myself. He set my feet upon the rock of His salvation. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of PRAISE to our God, that many will see and fear and put their trust in God. (Psalm 40:1-3)

Heavenly Father,

I am indeed so poor and needy, yet You take thought of me. You have indeed multiplied Your wondrous deeds and thoughts towards me. I will proclaim and tell of them, though they are more than can be told. You are my help and my deliverer. Do not delay, for You are my God.

I delight to do Your will for You are my God. Your law is within my heart. Let me not restrain my lips. Help me to tell of all the glad news of deliverance that I have experienced. Let me not hide Your saving grace within my heart.

Fill me with Your Spirit. Delight me with Your presence. Make me Your witness, sharing boldly and openly of Your faithfulness and salvation.

Truly, You are good to both the evil and the good for You are a good and gracious King. May I praise You just as loudly for the thorns in my flesh which You have given me to keep me humble as I praise You for Your mighty works of deliverance. They are both gifts granted out of Your abundant, overflowing grace!

Make me a pipeline of Your kindness and grace toward sinners like me.

In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

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Thank You, Jesus, for the Blood – Charity Gayle

Feeling Forsaken – Job 15 – 2025 Day 67

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Read through the Bible in 2 years: Job 15; Psalm 35

I hope you’re reading the Psalms along with Job. They’re so beautiful to read together.

“How long, O Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their destruction,
my precious life from the lions!

I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.”

Psalm 35:17-18 ESV

“They open wide their mouths against me;
they say, ‘Aha, Aha! Our eyes have seen it!’

You have seen, O LORD; be not silent!
O Lord, be not far from me!”

Psalm 35:21-22 ESV

“Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and let them not rejoice over me!”

Psalm 35:24 ESV

“Let those who delight in my righteousness
shout for joy and be glad and say evermore,
‘Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!’

Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
and of your praise all the day long.”

Psalm 35:27-28 ESV

Sisters, when we find ourselves in a pit of despair, we must speak truth to our hearts. God has given us His Word to guide us, enlightening our path that we might not sin against Him. (Psalm 119:5, 105, 11) His Word is truth. His truth sanctifies us. (John 17:17)

  • “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 ESV)
  • “It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8 ESV)
  • “And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10 ESV)

In Christ, we are the recipient of God’s grace, hidden behind the cross where Jesus absorbed the Father’s wrath that we so deeply deserved. Jesus took the Father’s scorn in our place. Jesus paid the death price, so we don’t have to. Let’s encourage one another with these words and pray to the Father together. Will you join me in praying?

Heavenly Father,

You are worthy of our full trust. Thank You for the sacrifice of Christ who has paid the price for my sin so that I don’t have to. My debt has been paid in full by my Savior, Christ Jesus, my Lord.

Thank You for Your faithful, steadfast love. I can trust without doubting that You will never leave me or forsake me. You are true, though every man be a liar. My own parents might even abandon me, turn away from me in shame, forsake me, but You never will.

In Jesus, You have made me Your child and put Your seal upon me, filling me with Your Holy Spirit, making me Your temple. What purpose and hope and peace there is in that!

In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.

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Only a Holy God – CityAlight

Consider the Lilies – Job 12 – 2025 Day 65

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Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Job 12, Psalm 33

Spring has arrived! The birds are singing. The trees are budding. The daffodils yellow heads are filling the landscape. The world seems alive after a long sleep. Revival! I love how the creation sings of its creator.

Has winter lasted too long in your heart and home? Have you lost your desire to bloom. Job understands and so does God. I pray that you will turn your face toward the Almighty and His face will shine on you as you wait for Him.

But ask the beasts,
and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens,
and they will tell you;
or the bushes of the earth,
and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea
will declare to you.

Job 12:7-8

Jesus’s words in Matthew 6:26, 28-30 echo Job’s loud and clear — “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father,

You are the creator and sustainer of life. You send rain and sun and snow. Thank You for the beauty of spring after a long winter. Help us to learn what You’re teaching us – to be patient, to trust You, that everything has a season and time.

You take care of the birds and the flowers, and you take care of us.

We pray for those sisters who have suffered through a long winter full of storms and cold. Please let Your face shine upon them and be gracious to them and give them Your peace. Sustain them and strengthen them for the road ahead. Let them not grow weary. Help them to trust that in due time they will reap a harvest if they do not give up.

In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

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“Where are the Snowdrops?” In loving memory of Anna Grace Kirby.
Please join me in praying for Joe and Emma Kirby and their family.
Do Not Worry – Rain for Roots

Your Life is Not Your Own. Thoughts from the Life of Joseph – 2025 Day 57 (Genesis 49-50)

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Read Through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 25, Genesis 49-50

His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”

But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.”

Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Genesis 50:18-21 ESV

Joseph understood that his life was not his own. He recognized that his life was too be lived in service to his fellow man and his God. Whether refusing the advanced of his boss’s wife, interpreting dreams, obeying his father, or providing for the needs of the Egyptians or the brothers who has sold him into slavery, his life was lived as an offering back to God. Can we say the same?

Is your body “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God”? (Romans 12:2 ESV)

Do you see your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit, whom you have received from God, such that “you are not your own,” … that you will live to “glorify God in your body”? (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV)

If your answer is “no,” let me make two simple, but not simple, suggestions:

  1. You can’t live what you don’t believe. If you don’t believe God’s Word … if you don’t believe that Jesus is the perfect, sinless God-man, the spotless Lamb who died for your sins and was raised to life again … if you don’t believe that God is good and all-knowing and all-powerful over all things, then you won’t be able to trust God enough to surrender your life to Him. Start there. Start by simply reading His Word each day, while asking Him to help you in your unbelief.
  2. You can’t give what you don’t have. If you don’t belong to God, if you’re not filled with His Holy Spirit, then you simply don’t have the power to live for Him. Surrender your life now to God. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn away from your sins and follow Him with an obedient spirit. Ask Him to change you from the inside out and fill you with His Spirit.

Please pray with me.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your mercy. Thank You for Your forgiveness. Thank You for coming after me while I was lost in my own sins. Thank You for giving us the book of Genesis, that we can know how the world began, but also that we can know the true stories of ordinary men and women like Abraham and Sarah and Joseph who possessed extraordinary faith.

Help us to trust You more, to believe that nothing is too hard for You, that You have good plans for us and that You have a purpose for our lives. Make us pure and holy vessels of Your Spirit. Make us living offerings for Your glory. We love You. We trust You. Help us to love You more and trust You more, for You are worthy.

In the name of Jesus Christ who is our Savior and our Lord we pray. Amen.

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“I am Not my Own”
Keith + Kristen Getty, Skye Peterson

The Miracle of Faithful, Forgiving Love – 2025 Day 49 (Genesis 33)

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Read Through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 17; Genesis 33

But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

Genesis 33:4 ESV

Twenty years earlier Jacob had fled for his life after lying to his father and cheating his brother Esau out of his father’s final blessing. Jacob was terrified to go back and see Esau again. He expected Esau to kill him, his wives, and his children. At a minimum, we would expect Esau to at least give Jacob a severe tongue lashing, right?

Esau running to embrace Jacob is certainly not what anyone would expect. Forgiveness and reconciliation are rare commodities in human relationships, even between brothers.

Esau’s actions reminded me of the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.

“How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.”

– Luke 15:17-24 ESV

I’m reading about Esau, but all I can think about is God’s overwhelming, never-ending, faithful love. He loved me while I was yet His enemy. Truly He loved me first. I am able to love Him ONLY because He first loved me!

I confess that I don’t really understand how all this works, but I do know that it all begins and ends with our loving Father. He pursues us. He lavishes His mercy on us, and His mercy draws us to repentance.

Esau’s ability to forgive his selfish, lying, deceiving brother, takes an act of God.

Has someone hurt you? Are you struggling to forgive them? You need God to act. And He CAN! He can do it. Dear sisters, God is able to do it through us! What is impossible for man is possible for God! God can give us the strength and humility to forgive others who have hurt us.

And, let’s not forget, He commands it of us. We must forgive others because we have been forgiven of SO MUCH!

Which reminds me of another parable that Jesus told. This time in Matthew 18.

“Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”

Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.

So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’

So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.

Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’

And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

-Matthew 18:21-35 ESV

Let’s pray together.

Heavenly Father,

Please give us the strength and humility we need to forgive others. Help us to say what our Lord Jesus Christ taught us to say, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Remind us of Christ’s own words as He was being crucified, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Help us to lovingly pursue others while they are sinners, like Jesus pursued us. Help us to overcome evil with good rather than repaying wrong with wrong. Please, Father, make us more like Jesus who was willing to suffer, in order that we could be forgiven and redeemed.

Help us to love others like you have loved us.

By the power of the Holy Spirit and the lavish, overwhelming grace of Christ, we pray this, Amen.

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