Matthew 6:12, Acts 9:1-18, Genesis 50:15-26
Audio of this message at the end of the text.
What keeps us from enjoying our relationship with God? One instruction so many ignore is found in the model prayer. Jesus tells us to pray, "forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." Jesus may be talking about going easy on people who own you money but I believe his big point is we are to forgive people who hurt us or try to harm us. I don't think if you own rental property Jesus is saying that you don't get to collect on what a renter agreed to pay you. There might be a time when you need to show compassion to a person who owns you money, however, the big teaching point here is about carrying around a grudge or carrying around bad feelings for someone you believe has harmed you.
Audio of this message at the end of the text.
I will tell you from experience that carrying a grudge never harms the person you are angry with, it only hurts you. When you are able to let go of bad feelings for someone who hurt you, you are free to move ahead with your life. Letting a grudge go is like taking a fifty pound weight off your back. Why do we ignore this very clear instruction? Because the business of forgiveness is hard.
Acts 9:1-18 tells how God told Ananias to seek out Saul and lay hands on him and heal his eyesight. This would be like God telling you to forgive the man who has gone to the police to get a warrant for your arrest! Saul was busy rounding up and executing followers of Christ and Ananias considered Saul evil and dangerous.
Because Ananias was willing to forgive Saul and to follow God's instruction, Ananias was used by God to restore sight to a blind man! Then Ananias watched as God used Saul to spread the Gospel to all the people of the world.
Want to be part of a miracle? Want to see what God can do in your life if you let go of the pile of grudges you are carrying around?
When Jesus taught us to pray and gave us the instruction to forgive others when they hurt us, Jesus must have been thinking how pleased he was that Joseph had forgiven his brothers. As the baby of 12 sons, Joseph was an arrogant twit. I've talked about him before. However, he grew up when his brothers sold him into slavery. Off in Egypt, Joseph humbled himself before God and God used him in powerful, positive ways. Genesis 50:15-26 tells how the brothers got scared when their father died because they assumed that Joseph would seek revenge since their father was no longer around to in a way protect them from Joseph. It is moving to see that Joseph wept when he learned that his brothers were afraid of him. Joseph had moved on. He had forgiven his brothers and had accepted that the terrible thing they had done to him turned out to be God's plan. He said, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
If you carry around hatred, resentment, or bitterness toward another person you are only hurting yourself. We are told to forgive just as Jesus forgives us. We are told to forgive because it moves us toward God and toward miracles and toward power. You might think, "I can't forgive and forget." I am telling you we have the promise, "You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you." God forgives the worst of the worst and he's been doing it since creation. It's time for you to get free and watch what God can do with your life. Take that burden of hate, resentment, bitterness, anger, and envy and drop it so that God can work miracles in and through you.
