Bible Thoughts

January 7, 2001

All men require mercy. We cannot save ourselves; we cannot heal ourselves of sin; we cannot abolish sin--we are fully dependent upon the God who created us. Jehovah extends mercy to humanity. Mankind does not deserve such, but God saw fit to offer a source of rescue from transgressions for all who would accept his gracious mercy. No matter the condition of a person, the number of sins of which he/she is guilty, or the terrible nature of the transgression, God, in His great mercy extends His forgiveness. Should we be like the Lord?

Jesus taught the principle of forgiveness to those in his day. Being able to forgive is a mark of a disciple at the present. Please note that Jesus taught the disciples of His time that when one turns to the offended and says, "I repent; thou shalt forgive him"(Luke 17:4). The Lord pointed out that if it is needed "seventy times seventy" times, the repentant soul is to be forgiven. Since one cannot judge a person's heart, it is necessary to accept the person's confessions of misdeeds. Holding grudges is not the mark of a faithful disciple of Christ.

There are to be no conditions for extending forgiveness to a fellow disciple beyond the confession of sin to the offended party, the standard set forth in the New Testament. Jesus said, "...thou shalt forgive him" when the person acknowledges his wrongdoing. We cannot judge a person's heart, only accept the person's efforts to follow the Lord. If hypocrisy is within the individual's heart, the Lord will take care of such, not man. Did not Jesus say, "Judge not that ye be not judged..."(Matthew 7:1)?

When forgiveness is extended, the forgiven should not be reminded of how he behaved in the past. The sin(s) are to be placed in the past, and, as nearly as possible, forgotten. It is not easy to forgive and forget when someone has done you wrong. But that is what has to be done if one desires to live a faithful life. What if God continually reminded us of the sins for which we have obtained forgiveness?

The path for forgiveness for the child of God is set forth in the New Testament. When Simon the Sorcerer attempted to purchase what he could not buy, the apostle Peter pointed out that he had violated the will of God and that he was to "repent...of thy wickedness, and pray the Lord, if perhaps the thought of thy heart shall be forgiven thee"(Acts 8:22). Simon responded in a positive manner and obtained the forgiveness that God offered to an erring child of God.

If one has sinned and the transgression is known only to God, confess that sin to God and pray for forgiveness(Luke 11:4). If others know of the sin, inform them of one's actions to please God(James 5:16). If the sin is of such public nature that the repentance needs to be announced publicly, the repentant person should let it be known that he is repenting and request the prayers of the brethren(Acts 8:24).

Once forgiveness is extended, the sins of which the one was guilty should never to brought up to the repenter in any manner in order to punish the person who committed them. What if God did that to us? We would be living a miserable life. When God forgives, it is gone, period. Let us be like the one who created us and always possess a spirit of forgiveness. Let each of us learn to forgive and forget. Such an attitude will make us more like Christ.

The above statement is very clear, do not worry about your life.

Now most of us don’t worry about our next meal, we know that if we go look in the fridge we will find food to eat. If we get hungry and if there is no food in the fridge then we can drive or walk down to the store and buy food to eat. We also know that if we go look in the closet we will find it full of clothes that we can wear and if there are none then we can, go buy some. So we don’t worry about these things, but what about the other worldly things.

Lets say you are planning a trip, or you need to get to an appointment and you try to start your car but it won’t start, do you start to worry then? Or you lose your job, do you start to worry then? What about the big exam that’s coming up, or maybe you have to have an operation. Are you going to be worried then?

Jesus went on to say, that we are to take the examples of the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap and they don’t have any barns to store their food in, but God looks after them, he feeds them. We are far more important than the birds, so don’t you think God will look after us even more. He goes on to talk about the lilies and the grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, but God clothes them. Don’t you think if God cares for them he will do so much more for us his people?

He tells us that worry is of no use. Can it add one day to your life and can it make you one inch taller? NO, it can’t, so, why worry when it can’t change anything?

“O, you of little faith” Jesus tells us that is why we worry. We often forget God when we have problems. We forget that we are important to God and that he loves us more than we can ever know. He looks after the ravens, and clothes the grass. He will do the same for us, and even more if we only have faith in him and obey his word.-Vaughn Botha