Forgive and Forget?
Sorry for the lack of a bible lesson yet this week. It's been a super hectic-crazy week for me so far. In the mean time I'll share this short little lesson called "Forgive and Forget?" that Eric Schumann posted on the Message Board. It seems to be a lot along the theme of the lessons that Greg wrote in the past couple of weeks.
“…If you forgive men of their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Says Matthew 6:14-15. This is very easily understood: If you want God to forgive you, you must forgive others.
A common myth is that you can intentionally sin because you know that God will forgive you. Understand that only if you ask forgiveness and repent will you be forgiven. (“…Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.− Luke 13:5) By the way, now is a good time to tell you what repent means. Webster’s English Dictionary says, “Repent- to wish one had not done something, and to feel regret and wish to change from evil ways”. So, how can God forgive you if you have no intention to change your ways? He won’t! Remember that Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Thus, you can be saved (grace) if you believe (faith) in the scripture, which, again, says that you must repent or you will perish.
“The grace of the LORD Jesus be with you all forever. Amen.”
Labels: Stand Alone
posted by Drew Dixon @ 10:31 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Kind of more on a side note, not only is it important to forgive others, but I think it is important to forgive ourselves and keep going forward in our life. I don't know about ya'll, but often I get caught up in the domb things I do and eventually I get so caught up in myself that I can't see God as well. Which is never good. So I think we should forgive our sins(except we can't do that w/ out God), hand them over to God, and not necessarily forget about them, but to learn from them and take one more step in fully embracing God's amazing grace:)
-Anna
Yeah, you're completely right Anna. I think I do this so much. When we ask God to forgive us, with a truly repentent heart - He forgives us! It's hard for us to believe as humans that our wrong could just be gone. The thing is is that it doesn't just vanish, but It is put on the cross with Jesus. Check out this verse:
"You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault." (Colossians 1:21-22)
This verse is so encouraging to me, and it's also so hard for me to believe. I was an enemy of God, yet now I am seen as perfect before Him, "without a single fault." Since I know that when I ask God to forgive me He does and then He see's me as perfect there's no reason for me to not forget the sin too. There's no reason for me to not move on too. God doesn't want us to sit around beating ourselves up about how sinful we are - He wants us to repent and move on with life knowing that He loves us and knowing that we are forgiven.
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