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21 June 2008
Word on the Web
2 Corinthians 2:5-11
Someone there among you has caused sadness, not to me, but to all of you. I mean he caused sadness to all in some way. (I do not want to make it sound worse than it really is.) The punishment that most of you gave him is enough for him. But now you should forgive him and comfort him to keep him from having too much sadness and giving up completely. So I beg you to show that you love him. I wrote you to test you and to see if you obey in everything. If you forgive someone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven - if I had anything to forgive - I forgave it for you, as if Christ were with me. I did this so that Satan would not win anything from us, because we know very well what Satan's plans are.
Recently I have found myself in a situation in which another Christian was behaving very badly, bullying and causing considerable distress to other people. It was necessary for action to be taken to stop this. Afterwards we had to continue to work with that person. For the people who had been hurt to do so, they had to be able to forgive the one who had hurt them, which wasn't easy.
Jesus taught us always to be ready to forgive, but it doesn't always come easily or without cost. It cost Jesus his life, yet when he was dying on the cross Jesus asked God to forgive the people who had done massively wrong things against him.
I suspect there aren't many of us who haven't been bullied or hurt by other people in some way. We can probably think of times when we have done the same to other people. Forgiveness is God's way of helping people to recover from the wrong we do to one another and to him. As Paul points out, we need the love of Jesus to be in us to truly forgive. If we don't, only the devil gets anything out of it.
Father God, please give me a forgiving heart like yours, help me not to hold grudges but to forgive those who do wrong against me. Please help me too, not to hurt others, but if I do to recognise it and say sorry. Amen.
Written by Captain Peter Grieve
Word on the Web
2 Corinthians 2:5-11
Someone there among you has caused sadness, not to me, but to all of you. I mean he caused sadness to all in some way. (I do not want to make it sound worse than it really is.) The punishment that most of you gave him is enough for him. But now you should forgive him and comfort him to keep him from having too much sadness and giving up completely. So I beg you to show that you love him. I wrote you to test you and to see if you obey in everything. If you forgive someone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven - if I had anything to forgive - I forgave it for you, as if Christ were with me. I did this so that Satan would not win anything from us, because we know very well what Satan's plans are.
Recently I have found myself in a situation in which another Christian was behaving very badly, bullying and causing considerable distress to other people. It was necessary for action to be taken to stop this. Afterwards we had to continue to work with that person. For the people who had been hurt to do so, they had to be able to forgive the one who had hurt them, which wasn't easy.
Jesus taught us always to be ready to forgive, but it doesn't always come easily or without cost. It cost Jesus his life, yet when he was dying on the cross Jesus asked God to forgive the people who had done massively wrong things against him.
I suspect there aren't many of us who haven't been bullied or hurt by other people in some way. We can probably think of times when we have done the same to other people. Forgiveness is God's way of helping people to recover from the wrong we do to one another and to him. As Paul points out, we need the love of Jesus to be in us to truly forgive. If we don't, only the devil gets anything out of it.
Father God, please give me a forgiving heart like yours, help me not to hold grudges but to forgive those who do wrong against me. Please help me too, not to hurt others, but if I do to recognise it and say sorry. Amen.
Written by Captain Peter Grieve
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