“…unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
(Matthew 18: 35)
When my husband was running his busy Dental Practice, he had wonderful, instructions to all the receptionists who met patients at the front desk, as sometimes they had to deal with angry confrontations, usually concerning billing related to insurance companies. This was his advice to diffuse anger and to calm whoever perceived some sort of wrong doing
“Always begin with the word, Sorry!”
It was amazing that agreeing with the person who was angry, before retaliating with defensive remarks, always allowed a better discussion of the problem.
Forgiving others who are really, angry with us, is often very hard to do and retorting with equally angry words is often the first thing we feel like doing. James has some wise words that somehow need to be imprinted upon our minds, (I seem to forget them often);
“My dear brothers, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” (James 1: 19)
Meaning that you are truly sorry is also very difficult that is why Jesus emphasises that when we are saying we forgive somebody it has to genuinely be heartfelt. (Matthew 18: 35)
I have two granddaughters who were born very close to each other, six days apart, and as they were growing up little spats broke out between the two cousins, I remember witnessing one, when they were three years old, where both mothers were trying to teach them to say sorry. The punishment was for each to go to their room and when they were ready, to come out and say sorry. The elder of the two opted to say sorry first and as she stood in front of her cousin, with hands on her hips, she shouted and made a rude face as she said sorry. Obviously that lesson failed, but even if we don’t go to that extent just mouthing sorry without coming from the heart, negates any true forgiveness.
Too often we have heard the words, “I forgive you, but I won’t forget!” I love the verse in Jeremiah, where the Almighty God is speaking to his people and assures them and of course us as well, that when we say sorry to him he promises to forget what we have done all together!
“…because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31: 34)
Sa
ying, sorry, begins the forgiveness cycle and when we practice both being willing to say sorry and being willing to forgive one another, we are blessed by living out Jesus’ beautiful example of loving one another as he commanded us to do.
My little granddaughter is going to a Day Care and I was so pleased to discover they are teaching her the same sweet songs that I sang as a small child. The other day I was travelling with the family and sitting in the back seat next to her car seat, when she offered to sing a song for me. I was thrilled to hear the words of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” emerge from this little mouth, accompanied by all the hand actions.
One of the churches I attended many years ago had a beautiful stained, glass window which I loved looking at, while seated in church. It was a depiction of Jesus, holding a lantern in his hand and knocking at a door. It was only just recently, while reading a study on the verse in Revelation 3: 20, that I discovered the history of this much, admired window. It was originally a painting by an English artist, William Holman Hunt and hangs in the Keble College Chapel in Oxford, England and is entitled, The Light Of The World, converting it to a magnificent stained glass window, has brought joy to countless viewers in churches scattered across the world.
and miss out on his loving fellowship. When Paul was telling others the good news in Antioch, the city realised they needed to hear the word of God, so they too could have the same wonderful relationship they could see Paul had with his Saviour.
Sending out words is vastly different as to the way it was when I was young. Handwritten letters were personal methods of communicating and for more official letters, a typewriter was used. Today the quickest way of getting your message across seems to be the most important point of any communication from emailing, texting to Twitter and Facebook. My sister and I played a little experiment this last few weeks to go back to sending a letter to each other. She lives in Australia and I live in Canada and while chatting on the phone to each other we were sharing some favourite recipes with each other. We both decided we would like to have each other’s recipe to try so my sister offered to send me hers by mail and I decided to send mine to her. Just for fun we posted them on the same day and waited to see which country had the best postal service. I received hers in exactly 7 days she is still waiting for mine 12 days later!!!
We tend to forget the incredible power of God’s word and sometimes fall into the error of thinking the Bible is just words written in a book. The Psalmists considered them so important, they wanted to absorb God’s words into their very being, the centre of the human heart;
When we are constantly spending time with the Lord and his word we are blessed by producing fruit which in turn blesses others and sends out his word in a mighty way. Somebody once remarked, people don’t need a sermon to find out what it means to be a Christian, they just need somebody demonstrating what the Lord’s love produces. Paul aptly describes how to do that in his letter to the Galatians;
!!! DISCOURAGEMENT !!!
carefully at our own lives and strive to be one who brings encouragement to those who need it and to be careful in offering unsolicited advice that may discourage others.
Perhaps one of the most amazing stories about mending broken walls, is the recording in the book of Nehemiah of how the Israelites bonded together with the return of the exiled ones and those who had been left behind, to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. It was certainly a team effort with everyone pulling together with a common goal which was the centre of everyone’s activity.
around us. A loss of a job can collapse a family’s ability to survive, also causing a collapse of one’s self confidence. A loss of a dear one can make us feel that life is crumbling around us. Within our church family others may have doubts about their own worthiness and need to have their faith strengthened. Paul writes to the Ephesians urging them to build each other up and to be aware of who needs this help.
of safety around us have cracks in them and need mending. God’s word is the sure foundation we need and again it is Paul that gives us this good advice;
Allergy season is upon us here in North America and those who suffer from allergies are at the mercy of the pollens swirling around them. The results are sneezing, eyes watering and for some, difficulty in breathing. I was watching a television ad for tablets that promised to rid the sufferers of all their terrible symptoms and one vowed that this particular one would relieve those with breathing problems and give them “good breath”. I thought the phrase was incorrect grammar, but it made me think what good breath was. The following Sunday, we sang a beautiful song with ended with these beautiful words for the repeated chorus;
Breathing love! What a gift to be able to use our very breath to spread love to others. We need breath to speak, so when we are breathing the Lord’s love our words will be filled with love not anger, bitterness or hatred but with understanding, love and sympathy.
That beautiful word – overflowing – is often used in Scripture, and often to describe God’s gifts to his loved ones in bountiful crops etc., but the most powerful way it is used, is when the Psalmist’s and other writers use it to somehow capture his love. In Psalm 65, the Psalmist recognises God’s love in his gracious abundance of gifts;
We can do exactly that in our lives when we overflow with God’s love. We can in-turn spread that love to others who may be in desperate need of some joy in their lives, bereft of happiness. Others may need to find peace in a turbulent situation and yet others may need hope when they have given up in despair.
Our family learnt a wonderful lesson in expressing love and understanding in a family celebration on Mother’s Day and we all witnessed this through the actions of a small boy, our five-year, old grandson. While my daughter, his mother, was busy preparing to celebrate Mother’s Day, and getting cards and gifts and a cake ready, suddenly my little grandson said. “But what about Aunty, what are we giving her?” This daughter was unable to have children of her own and as soon as he said these words, my younger daughter realised that these words from a little boy had a great depth of meaning so, out they went for him to buy something special for someone who needed an expression of love and understanding.
Once we belong to Jesus Christ, the Lord can use us as his messengers to distribute his love to others. The writer of Hebrew concludes his letter with a powerful prayer for his readers in which he asks the Lord to bless them and equip them with everything good they need to do God’s will.
Mother’s Day is celebrated in many different countries and usually the second Sunday in May is set aside to honour mothers. For some women this can be a difficult day and especially single mothers with young children, who have nobody in their family able to fuss after them. I was delighted to hear from one of my daughters, that the church she attends, sets aside the Saturday before Mother’s Day, as one totally devoted to helping single mothers in a practical way, but also to make them feel loved and pampered. For example, men in the congregation offer to:
which he attributed to people who spoke about caring for people, but only spoke about it without doing anything about it. James addresses this in his letter to the churches, urging them and of course us, not to offer meaningless words to those in need, but to do something about it!
The secret to be able to achieve practical Christian action is to remain firmly attached to the vine. Jesus assured his disciples and all those who would follow him need to stay firmly rooted in him, then we will be able to be fruitful and bear much fruit for him no matter how old we are.