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Matthew
6:14-15 – For if you let men have
forgiveness for their sins, you will have forgiveness from your Father
in heaven. But if you do not let men have forgiveness for their sins,
you will not have forgiveness from your Father for your sins.
John 13:35 –
By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for
one another.
Love One Another. – Selfishness and pride
hinder the pure love that unites us in spirit with Jesus Christ. If this
love is truly cultivated, finite will blend with finite, and all will
center in the Infinite. Humanity will unite with humanity, and all will
be bound up with the heart of Infinite Love. Sanctified love for one
another is sacred. In this great work Christian love for one
another--far higher, more constant, more courteous, more unselfish, than
has been seen--preserves Christian tenderness, Christian benevolence,
and politeness, and enfolds the human brotherhood in the embrace of God,
acknowledging the dignity with which God has invested the rights of man.
This dignity Christians must ever cultivate for the honor and glory of
God. .
The only begotten Son of God recognized the nobility of humanity by
taking humanity upon Himself, and dying in behalf of humanity,
testifying throughout all ages that "God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life" (Letter 10, 1897).
A Fatal Deception. – True sanctification unites believers to
Christ and to one another in the bonds of tender sympathy. This union
causes to flow continually into the heart rich currents of Christlike
love, which flows forth again in love for one another.
The qualities which it is essential for all to possess are those which
marked the completeness of Christ's character--His love, His patience,
His unselfishness, and His goodness. These attributes are gained by
doing kindly actions with a kindly heart. . . .
It is the greatest and most fatal deception to suppose that a man can
have faith unto life eternal, without possessing Christlike love for his
brethren. He who loves God and his neighbor is filled with light and
love. God is in him and all around him. Christians love those around
them as precious souls for whom Christ has died. There is no such thing
as a loveless Christian; for "God is love," and "hereby we do know that
we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.".
. . . (SDA Bible Commentary Vol. 5 - 1140,
1141)
Peter had come to Christ with the question, "How oft
shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?"
The rabbis limited the exercise of forgiveness to three offenses. Peter,
carrying out, as he supposed, the teaching of Christ, thought to extend
it to seven, the number signifying perfection. But Christ taught that we
are never to become weary of forgiving. Not "Until seven times," He
said, "but, Until seventy times seven." (Christ’s
Object Lessons - 243)
Here is the ground upon which we should exercise
compassion toward our fellow sinners. "If God so loved us, we ought also
to love one another." John 4:11. "Freely ye have received," Christ says,
"freely give." Matt. 10:8.
In the parable, when the debtor pleaded for delay, with the promise,
"Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all," the sentence was
revoked. The whole debt was canceled. And he was soon given an
opportunity to follow the example of the master who had forgiven him.
Going out, he met a fellow servant who owed him a small sum. He had been
forgiven ten thousand talents; the debtor owed him a hundred pence. But
he who had been so mercifully treated, dealt with his fellow laborer in
an altogether different manner. His debtor made an appeal similar to
that which he himself had made to the king, but without a similar
result. He who had so recently been forgiven was not tenderhearted and
pitiful. The mercy shown him he did not exercise in dealing with his
fellow servant. He heeded not the request to be patient. The small sum
owed to him was all that the ungrateful servant would keep in mind. He
demanded all that he thought his due, and carried into effect a sentence
similar to that which had been so graciously revoked for him.
How many are today manifesting the same spirit. When the debtor pleaded
with his lord for mercy, he had no true sense of the greatness of his
debt. He did not realize his helplessness. He hoped to deliver himself.
"Have patience with me," he said, "and I will pay thee all." So there
are many who hope by their own works to merit God's favor. They do not
realize their helplessness. They do not accept the grace of God as a
free gift, but are trying to build themselves up in self-righteousness.
Their own hearts are not broken and humbled on account of sin, and they
are exacting and unforgiving toward others. Their own sins against God,
compared with their brother's sins against them, are as ten thousand
talents to one hundred pence--nearly one million to one; yet they dare
to be unforgiving. He who refuses to forgive is thereby casting away his
own hope of pardon. (Christ’s Object Lessons
- 245)
John 20:21-23 –
And Jesus said to them again, May peace be with
you! As the Father sent me, even so I now send you. And when he
had said this, breathing on them, he said to them,
Let the Holy Spirit come on you: Any to whom you give forgiveness, will
be made free from their sins; and any from whom you keep back
forgiveness, will still be in their sins.
| Here we notice that the Spirit of
God was given and then Christ reminds them of forgiveness. Truly
the only way a human can forgive as Christ forgave is with the
in-filling of the Holy Spirit! Why do we hold on to bitterness and
anger? Why not today allow Gods Holy Spirit to come into your life
and set you free from not being able to forgive someone who has
wronged you. |
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