Look upon my
affliction and my trouble, And forgive
all my sins.
Over
the past several weeks I have thought a lot about the barriers that we come up
against in life. Similar to the barriers
placed out on roads when there is danger or construction, there are barriers
that are placed in our lives.
Some
barriers are physical. There are
limitations or barriers from illness or maybe sickness. You or I may have a barrier of a
disability. Some of these come by our
choices, yet much of the time barriers are simply part of life and living.
There
are other barriers beyond the physical.
I want to drawn our thinking today to a limitation or barrier that is
all tied up in our spiritual lives. It
is the barrier of forgiveness.
Be kind to
one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also
has forgiven you.
Forgiveness
is seen in many ways in our lives. The
lack of forgiveness or unforgiveness will tie us up, grow as bitterness and
anger. It stripes us often of our
ability to enjoy life.
On
the other side forgiveness is one of the biggest things that frees us. When we choose to give and receive
forgiveness, we gain freedom and peace.
It gives us the ability to grow, to increase our living, like abundant
life we heard of in John 10:10. Forgiveness
and abundant life are gifts from God with all kinds of outcomes within each of
us.
Forgiveness
is another choice that will open doors, bring dividends and increase the
strength and lessen the struggle of our lives.
Where
are you in the thought of forgiveness and the need of it? I am right in the mix. Forgiveness and being forgiveness are solely
tied to our walk with and relationship to God.
It really is the character of God and to be God like to have forgiveness
as part of your life and mine.
For You,
Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.
I
am forgiven. That is that. That is a big deal. But back up for a minute. Often we put our human limitations or
barriers in the way of divine forgiveness.
We may even think, I believe we often think, that our goodness matches
the goodness of God. I beg to
differ.
God
goes beyond our stopping place. He keeps
on loving when we find it hard to love.
Our God is full of mercy and grace when we have to make ourselves
respond again because of pain or broken relationships. I need God’s grace. How about you? I desire His forgiveness, but I confess that I
don’t deserve His grace and forgiveness.
When you
were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made
you alive together with Him, having forgiven
us all our transgressions,
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