Mom is home from the hospital, continuing with meds and physical therapy to regain strength. Bless you all for your prayers for her!
Our scripture this morning is Luke 6:36-37 (NLT).
You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.
Jesus preached an extravagant standard of forgiveness, telling Peter to forgive “Not seven times, but seventy times seven!” (Matthew 18:22). This doesn’t mean 490 times but so many times we forget to count. In this same way God forgives us, saying “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins” (Jeremiah 31:34), quoted also in Hebrews 8:12.
God has forgiven us so much, how could we be unforgiving toward others? This passage concludes Jesus’ teaching here about loving our enemies, a difficult subject as we know. Most of us are way too good at judging and not so hot on love and forgiveness.
We need to forgive those who do not follow the way Jesus taught and love them just the same, because that’s exactly what He did. His love and forgiveness is based on who we are at the deepest level, children made in God’s image. When we forgive those who don’t treat us well, we show the world His love in action.
Gracious God, in Your mercy You made a way for our sin to be blotted out. Bless us to forgive as we have been forgiven. Amen.
