"TuesdayReflection"
2th February 2024
'Candice Watters shares'
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"The Pattern and Power to Forgive "
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:31-32
The words that describe the tone of worldly discourse.
Stated differently, they are resentments fuelling distorted and damaging accusations blurted out with extreme anger in order to do others harm.
This is the everyday stuff of social media.
And Christians aren't immune.
But in Jesus, we have a new nature.
He calls us out of our old worldly ways and into new life in Him.
And yet, are we not still prone to flashes of anger, hasty responses, jumping to conclusions, and believing the worst.
I have felt my blood pressure rising in the midst of conversations with fellow brothers and sisters in Jesus.
It's at this moment that I need God's help to turn from my natural response, the one that rises seemingly on its own.
This is why Paul writes-to show us a better way.
There's an implied instead between verses 31 and 32.
We who are in Christ are to be kind, tender hearted, and forgiving of the very offences that, without Jesus, would give rise to all those sinful responses.
But how?
How can I stop doing what feels so natural and instead do what is foreign to me?
This is where the 'as' comes in.
Paul says stop doing that, and instead, do this "as God in Christ forgave you."
He says it more strongly in Colossians 3:13,
"as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."
This as phrase is both our pattern to follow and the power to do it.
Forgive as God forgave you.
How did He forgive us?
Generously, willingly, graciously, lovingly, sacrificially.
Jesus went to the cross and took upon Himself the full burden of all of our sin, and for that, He received the full blow of God's wrath - the punishment that should have landed on us.
In light of what it cost Jesus to forgive us, how can we indulge our own wrath and be stingy in forgiving others?
To do that is like me receiving a pardon for burning down an entire forest, then turning in rage against someone who burned down my favourite candle.
The sacrificial death of God's sinless Son is also the means to obedience.
We can put away bitterness, etc when we are redeemed by Jesus because He gives us a new heart, gives us His mind, and fills us with His Spirit who empowers us to obey.
But we must make an effort.
In a moment of frustration, when I want to respond harshly with a sharp word of disagreement, the Holy Spirit reminds me that I am to put away wrath.
When I'm tempted to bitterness over a past hurt or offence, He whispers to my heart, "Think what it cost God to forgive your infinite offense against Him.
This slight you're so agitated about is a trifle, it is nothing in comparison."
John Piper puts it like this:
If the forgiveness that we received at the cost of the blood of the Son of God, Jesust, is so ineffective in our hearts that we are bent on holding unforgiving grudges and bitterness against someone, we are not a good tree.
We are not saved.
We don't cherish this forgiveness. We don't trust in this forgiveness. We don't embrace and treasure this forgiveness.
As God in Christ Jesus forgave you, forgive others because
"if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:15).
May we run to Jesus for the help to forgive others as God has forgiven us, clinging in hope to His promise that,
"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out".
For Reflection
What, or who, tempts you to hold onto grudges and withhold forgiveness?
Ask God to forgive your unforgiveness and help you to grasp the depths of what you've been forgiven by God in Christ Jesus.
Pray for the person, or people, you need to forgive.
Ask God to bless them and help you to love them.
><(((°>
This is an edited version.
The full article and Bible references are avaiable on request
Candice Watters
is the Fighter Verses blog editor.
She is a wife and mom, and author of Get Married:
What Women Can Do to Help it Happen, and co-author with her husband Steve of Start Your Family: Inspiration for Having Babies.
The Watterses have four children and are passionate about encouraging mums and dads to disciple their children.
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