A Patient, Loving, Forgiving Spirit

Mistakes

I would like for you to think back to some moment in the past when someone made a mistake which impacted you either directly or indirectly.  What about the person in line ahead of you at the bank who waits until they are at the window before beginning to fill out their deposit slip – Or you are in the 10 items or less line and the person ahead of you is over the limit by 20 – Or the driver in front of you does not move quickly enough or cuts in front of you to make a turn – Or someone makes a comment about you or something you are involved in which is incorrect and hurtful.

Modes

In each of these situations how did you react — were you in lightning or loving mode?  What are these two modes, you ask?

Lightning mode is where we desire immediate consequences and if we were in charge of things there might be a lightning bolt to emphasize the point!

Loving mode is where we consider first why the person did what they did and do not assume that it was intentional or malicious, perhaps it was merely an oversight or they had other things on their mind.

Now that we have defined these different modes of responding when others act in ways we do not approve, or do things which interfere with our plans, let’s consider which mode we as Christians should seek to develop as our first response.

God has a unique way of teaching us things and for me, when it comes to understanding His mercy and forgiveness, He uses specific times when I have done something that I know immediately or soon thereafter was a mistake and I felt awful because I knew better.

In almost every instance the mistake was not intentional or deliberate, but still it was something I wish I could have handled differently.

Mercy

When I make a mistake, what I want most is mercy and not justice.

Later when I am in the other position of being the one impacted by another’s actions and begin to revert to the lightning mode, God softly reminds me of the last time I deserved justice, but received mercy instead and I am humbled before Him.

Jesus spoke often about the need for His followers to develop the proper attitude about forgiveness and mercy.

In the portion of the Sermon on the Mount which is the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus says we are to ask God to forgive us to the same extent that we forgive others.

This seems an almost impossible standard, since when it comes to ourselves we desire total and complete forgiveness from God and for His understanding of our weaknesses, especially at those times when we have to seek forgiveness for sins we have previously repented of.
But when it comes to our forgiving others, we cannot seem to imagine that God would expect us to show the same level of mercy, forgiveness and patience with others as He does with us.

There are many reasons for our thinking in this manner — perhaps we think we are special in some way as compared to others, otherwise known as Pride – or we try to make excuses such as saying we have forgiven but cannot forget, nurturing bitterness in our hearts.

But what Jesus truly desires in our lives is for us to embrace this new life we receive when we accept Him as Lord and Savior and continuously seek to grow stronger and more mature each day in our faith and as a disciple.

Maturity

As we mature as Christians, our lives will begin to exhibit more and more the fruits of the spirit. As we more fully understand all that forgiveness includes as God defines it, we will see that it is expressed in the fruits of the spirit which Paul wrote of to the Galatians.

Galatians 6:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self control….Christ’s forgiveness, which He desires that we seek to develop in our lives as Disciples, involves each of these nine fruits of the Spirit.

LOVE which focuses on others needs, even at its own expense
JOY which comes from lifting the burden of guilt from others
PEACE from removing all bitterness towards others from our hearts
PATIENCE which seeks to see things though the other person’s eyes
KINDNESS which seeks to share the Grace of God which we have received
GOODNESS which seeks the very best for others in each situation
FAITHFULNESS remembering each day how God deals mercifully with us
GENTLENESS desiring to calm those who are hurting from their mistakes
SELF-CONTROL to avoid reacting in lightning mode instead of loving mode.

Message

If we can comprehend the full measure of the forgiveness, mercy and grace we have received from God, we will realize it is so far beyond any measure of forgiveness we could be asked to grant to anyone else.

In Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus told of a Master who was owed 10,000 talents by a servant who begged the Master not to imprison him over the debt and the Master forgave the entire debt.

But immediately thereafter the servant confronted another who owed him 100 denarii and he began choking him, demanding his money. Even after begging for mercy, as the original servant had just done, his plea was denied and he was thrown into prison.

To put the two amounts into context, a talent was equal to 15 years of wages for a manual laborer, so 10,000 talents was Jesus way of saying this debt was impossible to repay; the same as our saying he owed a zillion dollars — and the 100 denarii owed to the servant was in comparison pocket change.

When the Master heard about this, he confronted the servant and asked how could he not show mercy for such a small debt, when he had been forgiven a debt which was impossible for him to ever repay?
The servant apparently believed he was forgiven because he deserved it, not because he had received mercy; and therefore he saw no need to show mercy to one whose debt to him was nothing in comparison.

How many times have we withheld forgiveness from others for things which were nothing in comparison to our sins which Jesus Christ forgave? I know in my life that I have received forgiveness in far greater measure than I could ever be asked to grant another and that God has provided His mercy and protection over and over again to keep me from harm when I have made mistakes.

When I look honestly at the quantity and quality of God’s love and mercy for me – God forbid that I should fail to forgive others and not show them mercy and patience.

Years ago we sang a chorus that I still remember

He paid a debt he did not owe
I owed a debt I could not pay
I needed someone to wash my sins away.
And now I sing a brand new song,
Amazing Grace all day long
Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay

I pray that this week you will look at the quality of forgiveness contained in your witness for Jesus Christ as His Disciple and ask God to show you those areas where you are responding more with lightning than love.

May God remind us of the times we have received mercy from Him and been blessed by the amazing grace of Jesus Christ in order to spur us on to sharing with others a patient, merciful and forgiving spirit.

MONDAY MORNING MESSAGE / FRED G. CHILTON