- Lying or Murdering
- Stealing or Sexual Sin
- Cheating or Cursing
- Hating or Tearing Down others
Did you come up with a list of 4 that are greater than 4 others, if you did than you are wrong. No sin is greater than another. I am a liar and a cheater, I've cursed and I've hated. I have fallen into sexual sin, I've stolen and I've torn down others. Which of these is the greatest sin. None is greater than another. In God's eyes we are all sinners and we all need healing. I have suffered sexual abuse, for a year and a half I was abused by a man trusted in my school, church and family. And I've come to realize that even though this sin was committed and it's easy for me to say his sin is worse than mine. I've come to realize that no sin is greater. Each sin that we commit is another strike of the hammer on the nail of the cross of Jesus Christ. Every time I earnestly pray for forgiveness I am reminded by the picture of the cross that it's all been paid for, and I've been forgiven.
In the bible it says "You are not your own; you were bought at a price." {Parts of 1 Corinthians 19-20} The price was death on a cross, we are not our own because the price has been paid, what did death on a cross buy, it bought us and not only that but it guaranteed us forgiveness from God. If we are forgiven why is it so hard for us to forgive others.
I can honestly say it is so hard for me to forgive the person on the road, that just cut me off, so hard for me to forgive the employee that doesn't practice honest standards and who doesn't act with integrity, so hard for me to forgive harsh words or hard times, so hard for me to forgive the abuse suffered so long ago. But isn't forgiveness what each person deserves in these situations, we've already established that no sin is greater than another, and they've all been paid for, and that God is willing to forgive us all, and that we should also be willing to forgive others. How many times have I been forgiven by others, forgiven by God. How many times is the love of God brought down upon me by someone who knows I'm hurting because of something I did, and wish I hadn't, or just by God's sufficient grace.
Forgiveness is something that we should all have in our lives, it is something that is one of the greatest gifts from God, and from our fellow beings here on Earth. When i think about forgiveness I think of Jonah and his call to go to Nineveh, yet he runs away to Tarshish. God creates a storm and the sailors toss Jonah overboard after he begs them to do it. God still has a mission for Jonah so he calls on a fish to swallow Jonah and send him back towards Nineveh. Jonah ends up in Nineveh and they turn from their evil ways by the grace of God they change, and God forgives them. Jonah doesn't understand God's grace and forgiveness, even though he was the benefactor of it shortly before God forgives Nineveh. I refer to different things in my life as Nineveh because a lot of times I want to run away from them and I don't want to deal with those areas.
Forgiveness can be one of those areas, I hated issues this summer that I didn't want to forgive, but something changed in me a few nights, when I first dealt with the abuse, I cursed the mans name over and over and over, I questioned God as to why he would allow me to suffer these ills. I questioned why it should happen to anyone. And then a week later I was faced with a new question, whether you had to forget to forgive. I now realize and know that forgetting is not a complete part of the occasion of forgiving. To forgive is to wish well the life of the person who wronged against you. That is a very hard thing to do, to wish well someone who has wronged you. I will never forget the year and a half of sexual abuse I suffered, it is an integral part of my life story, and so much of who I am relates back to that year and a half. But I wish well that man's life, I hope that though he is in prison now he is being blessed by God in an infinite number of ways. I hope in a few years he is blessed measure beyond measure, and that God has a place for him in his kingdom. I know that sooner than we ask for it we are forgiven. Our sins are forgiven already, we are not our own we are bought with a price. We are forgiven and we should forgive others, and if you don't believe me believe the words of Jesus the Christ who paid the price for all of our sins.
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. {Matthew 18:21-22}
Spend time in prayer tonight ask for your own forgiveness, forgive others for the wrongs committed against you in this life, pray that you would all find the blessing of God in your lives. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. He tells us to forgive over and over and over again. To forgive and never stop forgiving, and to pray that the lord blesses and keeps everyone close to his heart. Forgive the harmless things, and forgive the huge things. Tonight I'll pray for you I'll offer up your lives to the lord that you would be blessed by him so much that you think it's crazy ridiculous but that you also continue to find life in him daily, that through the blessings you never forget God.
May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace. {Numbers 6:24-26}
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