Focal Passage for 2010:
“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 (NKJV)
Weekly Passage:
“And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
This year, we are on a journey to learn to love as Christ loves. This week’s focal passage is Ephesians 4:32. We have spent several weeks taking this verse apart and studying each portion of God’s command. Last week, we explored Scripture to learn what it means to be “tender-hearted.” “Tender-hearted” in this verse means compassionate. If we are to be tender-hearted to those around us, we need to understand how God is tender-hearted to us!!! God ministers to our very core issue –our need for Him!! Then what are we to do??? We are to minister to the very core issue of those people God brings into our lives. We must love the Lord God with all our hearts, all our minds, all our strength, and all our souls so that HE is glorified through us. When others see Christ in us, they are drawn to the cross!!! We must be willing to love others enough to boldly share the Gospel of Christ, serve them as Christ serves us, and encourage them through truth so that they may come to know the Lord God as their personal Lord and Savior!!! There is no more perfect gift than the gift of Christ!! God reveals Himself to us through His Word and when we dive deep into His Word, HE will equip us with a Biblical view of Himself. HE will give us wisdom, discernment, understanding, and boldness to proclaim Him to a lost and dying world!!! Are you willing to be a vessel of the Most High???
This week, we will focus our study on “forgiving one another.” Forgiving in this verse means to “freely give.” This definition really got my attention. I began to think about how I forgive. I am ashamed to admit this but I do not forgive freely. Now, certainly, if someone apologizes to me, I accept their apology and forgive them but what the Lord has been revealing to me is that HE desires for me to forgive them REGARDLESS if they apologize to me!!! WOW!!! Don’t you love how God continues to reveal our sinful hearts?!?!?! At times, we may be tempted to become overwhelmed by the areas in our lives that God desires to change but God’s Word addresses this very issue and gives us hope!! “Direct my steps by Your word, And let no iniquity have domination over me. Redeem me from the oppression of man, That I may keep Your precepts. Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes” (Psalm 133-135). “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2).
God is so good to us!!! His desire in revealing our sin is to free us from the bondage of that sin!! When God commands us to forgive others it is because unforgiveness is a sin and refusing to forgive actually produces bitterness in our hearts. “Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord; looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up causing trouble, and by this many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:14-15). Forgiving others frees us from the bondage of bitterness and it reveals Christ to those who have wronged us. Learning to forgive others requires that we first learn how Christ forgave us. Next week, we will be diving deep into Scripture to learn exactly how Christ forgives us!!
Reread this year’s focal passage once more. “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). When we forgive others, we are loving them as Christ loves them. “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, HE humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:3-11).
When we begin loving as Christ loves, then forgiveness is something that we will freely offer anyone who hurts us, harms us, betrays us, abuses us, rejects us, judges us, and/or refuses to forgive us. Forgiving others does not mean that we condone their sin. Forgiving others demonstrates God’s glory by freeing us from the bondage of sin and reveals Christ to that person. Last week, we learned that God is compassionate and HE demonstrates that compassion through ministering to our deepest need – our need for Christ Jesus. When we love others in a way that allows us to freely forgive them, then we are also ministering to their deepest spiritual need. God is so faithful to continually work all things for His glory and our good. Are you willing to let go of bitterness and to forgive freely? May the Lord continue to reveal our true heart condition to each of us so that we can confess and repent those things to the One who ALWAYS FORGIVES and ALWAYS LOVES!!!! Make us more like you, Lord Jesus!!!
