If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1 John 4:20 KJV
Good Morning Beautiful,
I hope you all had a great weekend. As we enter into this new week, let’s decide to make some changes in our lives. The first change that I want us to consider is that of forgiveness. I take that back–Let’s not consider it; let’s do it!
In God’s word, He makes the understanding of forgiveness plain as He lays out the fundamental truth that you can’t love God(spirit), who you haven’t seen if you can’t love your brother (flesh) who you have seen ( see 1 John 4:20).
Let the truth be told that forgiveness is much bigger than the act of forgiving those that may have hurt you. Forgiveness shows obedience, and it shows faith as well as belief. God wants you to trust in Him by unforgiveness can cloud that judgment.
Unforgiveness will have you walking in self-pity, pride, hate, jealousy, envy, and many other things that are not of God. The longer you keep holding on to the grudge, the more you will struggle with seeing God. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at a few scriptures for clarity:
- “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:5 KJV)
- It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” ( Psalms 118:8 KJV)
- Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.”(Psalms 40:4 KJV)
God has already forewarned us that man can not be trusted. We have to understand and comprehend that man will make mistakes because we are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world. So guess what? Man will hurt you, and they will deceive you because we are all sinners, but it is by the grace of God that we have the opportunity to do better and be better.
Better starts with you because God didn’t say in His word that we have to tell others first on how to love and forgive, but it says, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-39 KJV). “Thou” is just another word for “You.” So, it starts with You!
God wants to work in your life, and He knows that you have been hurt, but God wants to take you from broken to healed. From stressed to blessed, but it starts when we open our hearts up to forgiveness. Put your trust back into God and see how He leads you.
Digging Deeper Discussion Questions
- Who are the people or things you are struggling to forgive?
- Reflect on Matthew 22:37-39 KJV. How is God showing you how to forgive correctly?
