True Forgiveness

Acts 7:60 - He fell to his knees, shouting, "Lord, don't charge them with this sin!"  And with that, he died.

Stephen followed Jesus' example of true forgiveness by praying for the ones who were persecuting and murdering him.  Although I'm certain that God was sad to see one of His own being martyred for his faith, I am sure that at the same time, it made Him smile to see that he was doing it right.  Stephen showed that no matter how bad it got (and being murdered is pretty bad), there is nothing we should not be willing to forgive someone for.

Most of us will probably not have to endure being stoned to death or murdered.  So what else can someone do to us that could possibly be worse that would make us unwilling to forgive them?  There are all sorts of crimes and things that people do to each other, and I believe that no matter what happened to Jesus, He would have forgiven them every time.  He HAS forgiven them every time...

True forgiveness is true love.  That's what Jesus has for us.  That's what He modeled for us.  Since we are striving each day (or should be) to be more like Jesus, then this is the first place we should start.  Forgiving like He forgives, and loving like He loves.

I know I struggle with forgiveness sometimes.  I'm sure a lot of us do.  God never expects us to be perfect, but He does expect us to try.  We're going to fail from time to time, and God expects that because we are human.  But He has promised to always be there to pick us up and brush the dust off our backsides so that we can try again.

Dear Lord, thank You for Your patience with me as I struggle to forgive and love like You have shown me.  I know I get impatient with people and lose my temper, and I know that is not what You modeled for me.  I pray that as I go out into the world today, that You will be with me to calm my spirit so that I can learn to be more like You.  I pray for those that are struggling with this as well, that You will put it on their hearts today to let go of whatever they are harboring towards someone else and begin to make amends with them.  I am confident that when we learn to forgive like You forgive, we will learn to love like You do.  In Jesus' name, Amen!



God Bless!!!