Forgive And You Will Be Forgiven
Forgiveness Demonstrates God's Love
LUKE 6:37-38.
“”Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
”Luke 6:37-38 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.6.37-38.NKJ
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How we treat others will affect the way God treats us. When we give simply out of love we open the door for God to bless us; but when we give with expectations of something in return we close it.
God’s promise of blessings may not come as one hoped, and maybe not in this life time at all, but you can be sure that God sees all your good deeds and the blessings are piling up in heaven. “Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”
Matthew 6:2-4 NKJV
God does not promise riches in this life time; indeed, He will not bless anyone with more than he can handle, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
I Timothy 6:10 NKJV
But however, God does promise to provide all our needs. Jesus said ““Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6:31-34 NKJV
Forgiveness is so important, we must learn to forgive so that our Father in heaven can forgive us; if we cannot forgive others, our Father in heaven will not forgive us (MATHEW 6:14; MARK 11:26).
No one can enter God’s kingdom with any level of revenge in their heart, however small.
Forgiveness starts by looking at ourselves; does any one of us deserve God’s forgiveness? Of course not!
Yet God’s Word tells us there’s no condemnation for those in Christ (ROMANS 8:1), so who are we to condemn or bring judgement upon others?
Not one of us can truly claim to have not sinned, we have all wronged someone in our life. If we could of truthfully claimed to of never sinned, their would of been no reason for Christ to die for us.
Therefore, every one of us is guilty of sin, of hurting someone and is in need of both human forgiveness and God’s forgiveness.
A forgiving person demonstrates God’s love, and that person has received God’s forgiveness. “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
I John 4:8 NKJV
That’s not to say we must allow others to continue to wrong us, or that we must be friends with them. But rather, consider the slate clean so that there’s no condensation or revenge in our heart and to continue to care for them, love them as we love ourselve (MATHEW 22:37-39).
To desire revenge is to hate, and to hate is to murder (1 JOHN 3:15).
My brethren, we humans have no right to revenge for it is written “Vengeance is Mine (ROMANS 12:19; DEUTERONOMY 32:35).”
All vengeance belongs to God; He alone is qualified to judge people. Only He sees into the heart and that it is in alignment with His Law.
Of course, we must make judgments, for we know the difference between right and wrong, and at times are called by the leading of the Holy Spirit, to discipline others and direct them in the way of the Lord. But to decide in our hearts, their eternal future is totally wrong .
Using the picture of a measuring jug, Jesus explains we will all receive in abundance our just rewards.
If we are judgemental, we will receive judgement pressed down, shaken together, and running over; If we treat others generously, graciously, and compassionately, these qualities will come back to us in the same abundant measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Whatever we give, will come back to us in abundance.
God’s justice is perfect; we all face consequences in this life for our actions, good or bad. But, however serous our sins, God went ahead of us and made way for us to receive His forgiveness and salvation by dying on a cross before we were even born, that we may legally receive His forgiveness and salvation.
Regardless of how serious our sins, God has given us all a gift that not one of us deserves; that through Christ Jesus, eternal life with God is available to all; for God wants not even one of us to perish, but for all to come to Him in repentance (2 PETER 3:9).
This is not just the “Good News,” it is the amazingly wonderful “Good News!”
But to receive God’s forgiveness, we must forgive others regardless of what our emotions are telling us, just as Christ has forgiven us (MATHEW 6:14-16).
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
