Good morning and welcome in today. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from the book of Ephesians but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a story.
For many years my family has enjoyed a good piece of meat on the holidays. Just like a lot of us up here in Northern Minnesota we fire up the four wheelers and then cook up some good food and throw some stuff on the grill. Sometimes we eat brats, or burgers but at other times I have cooked up some good steaks or a roast. For most of us, I think we really enjoy tender meat.
I have always taught my wife that if she cooks hamburgers I love them soft and tender. Some people prefer harder meat, but not me. I like when meat melts in your mouth. That may sound silly to you but I like prepared meat to be very soft and easy to be chewed. When I eat meat, I like it to be like eating a warm and cooked kind of like a soft spaghetti meatball. That’s just the way I am I guess. I don’t like stuff hard and stiff, but prefer it soft and gentle. Thats very similar to forgiveness in the Christian faith.
In order to forgive others who apologize to you, it requires a tender soft heart. The bible teaches us that if we confess our faults to God, He forgives us. Christ Jesus is very meek and lowly. He is very gentle and softheartead toward each of us. Even though we have sinned against Him, He is more than willing to forgive us when we turn back to Him. This is the very reason He died on the cross. He truly carried the weight of our sins to the cross so that we would learn to forgive one another. Truly Christianity Is all about forgiveness.
Ephesians 4:32 – And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Forgiveness in the scriptures requires two things, an admission of faults and forgiveness. Jesus taught Peter to forgive a brother when they apologized. He didnt require anything else, just as God doesn’t demand of us anything else. To simply say I’m sorry can truly be the the most difficult words in world for someone to say.
We are all in default before God because we are all sinners before him, but truly God wants us to come to Him for forgiveness.
When your heart is tender it means than you show gentleness and concern or sympathy towards others.
In order to truly forgive others as the dad did towards his son in the prodigal son, it requires a soft tenderheart. It means that you truly care about the other person, even though they have committed an offense against you.
After all, isn’t that what Jesus has done for each of us? Whether you sinned once or a thousand time we are all guilty in the eyes of God.
Do you understand how many times God could have looked upon this world in the last 2000 years and destroyed it? Because He is God and created this world He certainly could have destroyed it, but instead of choosing punishment for this world, God choose mercy forgiveness and grace. It’s truly incredible isn’t it. The law demanded justice while Gods son Jesus demanded mercy and forgiveness. Forgiveness Is an amazing thing and moreover it is presented by Forgiving and mericiful God
Forgiveness happens when you recognize that you have been forgiven for your sins in the church. It happens when you realize that you’re just as big a sinner as everybody else. That’s why the Old Testament law was there, to show us that we’ve all come short of the glory of God. Many people truly feel that they have never sinned against God while the truth is that they are not being honest with themselves.
You will find in the old testament that all of us have sinned and come short of God’s ideal purpose for each of us. Thank God for mercy and forgiveness because without it we would all suffer the consequences of of His fiersome wrath.
I think that’s where I’m going to stop for right now, but Lord willing I’ll talk to you all tommorrow. Bye bye everyone.❤
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