Thoughts From the Bible

Luke 17: 1- 4- (1) Then He said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no offenses should come but woe to him through whom they do come. (2) It would be bet t er for him if a mil l ston e were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. (3) Take heed to yourselves. If you r brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. (4) And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you saying, "I repent , " you shall forgive him."   Jesus is g iving us a pointed lesson in these four verses. He does not expect us to tolerate offenses against us, but He also expects us to forgive as He forgives. We have to understand Jesus' forgiveness is unlimited. We have to be the same way. That really goes against our human tendency. Jesus also did not qualify the sin. Too many times, we do qualify another person's sins .    Jesus tells us it is ...

Mark 11: 25- 26-   Jesus is still working to educate the disciples on the messages He wants them to preach going forward in their lives. These two verses are very impactful  not only for the disciples but for us.  “(25) And wheneve r  you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may forgive you your  trespasses .  (26) But if you do not forgive, neither  will  your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”   This is a simple lesson for us to learn yet something that is  very hard  for us to do at times. There are times when the world will tell us some offense is unforgivable. We cannot have that wor d in our vocabulary if we are going to work to live our lives as God would have us live. I need to continually work on better learning how to forgive.   P roverbs 10: 13-   Wisdom is found on the lips of  him who has  understanding , but a rod is for the back of him ...

Read Matthew 18: 23- 35-   Sometimes I think it would be good to put a  plaque  on a wall to commem orate  all  the things God has done for me. I think this would provide something  tangible  for me to see to remind me of  all  the  great things  God has done for me. Forgiveness is not  tangible,  but it is a matter of the heart. God has promised He  will forgive us of our sins if we ask Him for forgiveness.  We need to constantly remind ourselves of how gracious God is to us so we can share that level of graciousness with others.  Jesus said this in verses 33, 34, and  35,   “ And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you? And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So  also,  my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not  forgive  your brother from your heart.”   Forgiveness is o...

Matthew 18: 21- 22- ‘Then Peter came up and said to Him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive Him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. ”’  If someone wants to  write  a book on  basic Christian principles, this short two verse passage would be required reading and study. This is one of those principles that stands out because of breadth of the impact of  the principle.  Jesus is telling Peter he needed to develop a heart of forgiveness that was very deep. Jesus is telling us we need to know we cannot put limits on how  often we  are required to  forgive people. Humans are going to make mistakes, many mistakes. Jesus knows this and lets us know we need to develop this heart of forgiveness by routinely practicing  forgiveness. Much like daily physical exercise, sometimes we will be placed in a position in life to routinely forgive others.  We ...

Matthew 6:12- “...and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” One thing we must realize and not forget is that we are sinners and we make mistakes. We make mistakes that impact other people. Sometimes we make mistakes on purpose and sometimes th ey are mistakes we are not fully aware. Jesus wants us to pray for forgiveness of the sins we commit. This is not a situation where God is wanting to keep His thumb on us, but it is a situation that we need to make sure we are mindful of our actions and mindful of our motivations. The other part of this verse is also good for us because, God forgives us and expects us to forgive others. God wants us to be continually mindful of our need to forgive others because we all possess the frailties of life and need to work to emulate the grace He has given us. He wants us to talk with Him about the things we may have done and the things others may have done to us.

Matthew 6: 14- 15- “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” This is self-explanatory but I feel there is a little more to it than simply forgiving others who may offend us in some way. We need to develop an attitude of forgiveness. When Peter asked Jesus how much s hould he forgive someone who offends him, in Matthew 18: 22 , “Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’” Jesus wants us to have an attitude of forgiveness so we can be the peacemakers God needs us to be in this life.  

Read Revelation 15:5- 8 - Jesus told us to love the Lord thy God with all of our hearts and all of our souls and all of our minds.  He then told us to love each other as ourselves.  Jesus wants us to exercise the love of God in our lives and not discriminate who we share the love of God with.  I was thinking about the phrase of loving the sinner but not the sin. In this passage, God shows there will be a time when His wra th will come to those who do not believe in Him and live their lives according to His principles. “And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven gold bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.” It is our Christian responsibility to love the sinner but not succumb to blessing the sins that defy God’s principles.  We need to remember this when we start to see ourselves get caught up in the debates of living practices that defy God’s principles.

Read  I John 3: 4-6 This passage does not need much clarification; “Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in Him. Anyone who continues to live in Him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know Him or understand who He is.” These are verses that are not complicated, and I need to take to heart. I need to examine myself and see where I stand or where I may fall short.  

Read John 20: 23- This one verse says a lot. Jesus is telling the disciples they have been the first to receive the essence of the Holy Spirit from Him. Now Jesus is telling the disciples if they forgive someone of their sins, then it is done. What type of spiritual authority was Jesus giving the disciples? Verse 23, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” The disciples have already heard and believed there is only one way for salvation and that is through accepting Jesus Christ as their LORD and savior. Jesus has given the disciples the spiritual authority to act on His behalf and He also gave them the Holy Spirit to guide them and help them to discern the spiritual nature of given situations. I want to personalize this whole idea of forgiving the sins of others and realize, I need to be prepared to forgive others who may wrong me. Jesus has spoken to the disciples to forgive 7 times 70 or continuously, I need to ...