Category: Grace, mercy & forgiveness

Jesus is not physically on earth now, but He is still speaking to us today – through His Word and by His Spirit (John 14:26). He ascended into heaven and will remain there until He comes again in His glorified body, and in great glory, to gather His people (Matthew 24:30-31) and make everything right and new (Revelation 21:3-4).

God’s promise to restore the fallen world through Christ is seen throughout the Bible. Deuteronomy 18:15-19 is God’s promise through Moses that Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s Word. Indeed, anybody who will not listen to Him cannot be a part of His people. The Old Testament prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak and write about Jesus (1 Peter 1:10-12) and the Pentecost crowd were the first to hear the explanation of well known but mysterious passages of Scripture (Colossians 1:26-27) – they were all about Jesus restoring a sinful world.

The greatest blessing we can receive starts with turning away from sin. That is repentance. There is no way forward with God without listening to Jesus, agreeing that He is right, turning from what is wrong, and asking for His mercy and forgiveness.

Jesus is speaking today. It does not matter what background you have come from, inclusion into God’s family is only through Jesus (Acts 4:12). Because He is God the Son, those who reject Him also reject God the Father (John 15:23). People who welcome Jesus are made part of God’s family (John 1:12). The gospel about Jesus that you have accepted is not just for you; it is essential good news for all your friends and colleagues too. Jesus is still alive, still speaking, still in command and will fulfil His promise to restore everything that sin has spoiled. As you trust in Him for salvation, also trust Him to help you to tell other people, so that they may find His salvation too.

Ephesians 4:30-32

When I tell people who have been ill-treated that full healing requires forgiving their abuser, many will argue, “You don’t understand the hurt I’ve endured.” They’re right. But a bitter spirit, like cancer, penetrates every part of our life. Anger and resentment are symptoms that cannot be pushed away and ignored. They spill out, harming relationships and leading to risky decisions.

Withholding forgiveness may feel as if we’re punishing the offender. But people cannot take revenge on one another without destroying themselves. That’s why the Lord calls us to follow His example of extending grace to all (Ephesians 4:32). Since God has pardoned us so generously, we shouldn’t withhold forgiveness from others. When someone hurts us, we may feel that person doesn’t deserve pardon, but neither are we deserving of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

Crucifixion was slow and agonizing, but Jesus’ worst torment occurred when the sin of the world was laid on Him and His Father turned away (Matthew 27:46). Still, as the crowd cast lots for His garments, Jesus gave us the best possible example of forgiveness by saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). I may not know your pain, but I assure you that Jesus does. With His infinite love and gentleness, He’ll help you overcome hurt, anger, and bitterness.

Forgiveness is a choice—an act of service to the Lord, a witness to the person who inflicted our pain, and a necessary step in our healing. No matter how terrible the acts committed against us were, God requires that we show mercy. For our good and His glory, He wants us to give up the “right” to punish those who hurt us.

Shared from In Touch Ministries.

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. —II Peter 3:8-9

The Lord’s seemingly slow reaction to sin often puzzles believers. Why doesn’t He immediately punish those who violate His principles? The succinct answer is found in 2 Peter 3:9—The Lord is patient so that all people have an opportunity to repent.

In our humanness, we at times want people to suffer for wrongdoing. Jonah ran away from his duty to preach in Nineveh, because he expected that if the inhabitants repented, his gracious, compassionate God would relent about destroying the city. And that is precisely what came to pass. Instead of rejoicing in the Lord’s success, the prophet complained about His treating the Ninevites with patience and mercy (Jonah 4:2).

Jonah was angry at God despite the fact that he himself had received divine mercy. (Unpleasant though it was, there are worse forms of discipline than being swallowed and regurgitated by a fish.)

More often than not, believers have ample reason to be thankful that the Lord, unlike human beings, is slow to anger. When we are stubborn and unrepentant, He waits patiently for us to respond to conviction. Discipline is painful to both the recipient and the one carrying it out. God prefers that we see the error of our ways, stop thinking that we’re getting away with sin, and turn back to His righteous path.

The Lord places such a high value on repentance and maintaining fellowship that He is willing to delay punishment of sin. But only for a time. Eventually, His justice demands a penalty. Do not wait for discipline. Instead, do what’s right, and turn your heart back toward God.

God doesn’t want us living fearfully. He wants us to fully plug in to His amazing power that comes through His grace. Unfortunately we sometimes short-circuit God’s power through negative mind-sets that get in His way.

There is no power shortage in heaven. God is not ever in a recession. His grace is sufficient to meet every need if we’ll just allow ourselves to be open and available to His will.

So to help you do that, I want to share three things that commonly interrupt our faith, cutting off our access to God’s power: complaining, self-pity and pride.

• Complaining is a negative attitude that keeps us from being thankful for all God has done, is doing and will do. It is a sin we need to repent of, and then be determined to thank God in all things, at all times. His grace and blessings always outweigh the things we think are wrong in our life.
• Self-pity is simply a “poor me” attitude. It is a form of idolatry because it causes you to focus on yourself and think, “What about me?” But we can’t be pitiful and powerful at the same time, so let’s decide to give up all self-pity.
• Pride takes credit for what God has done and steals His glory. It makes us independent of God, and we can’t bear good fruit apart from Christ.

We can’t really change until we start taking His Word seriously and trust Him to change us. When we make a firm decision to pray and study His Word in areas where we are weak, then God can give you the power needed to overcome the things that are wrong.

God has all the power you need to do anything you need to do. He loves you and wants to give you His power to live your life with joy. Lean on Him with absolute trust in His wisdom and goodness, and live with God-given confidence.

If there’s one thing people need to hear over and over again, it’s this: God loves you. That’s all there is to it. He may not like everything you do, but He’s never going to stop loving you.

God is not impressed with your works at all. What He cares about is your heart.

I believe the greatest thing God wants to hear from us is, “I love You, Lord. Thank You for everything You’ve done in my life. I want to do what’s right. Keep teaching me.”

Many of us don’t pray and ask God for what we need because we don’t think we have a right to ask. But the Bible says God wants us to learn how to receive His mercy. Hebrews 4:15 says we have a High Priest, a perfect Savior, who understands our weaknesses. He’s been tempted just like we are, yet He never sinned.

Verse 16 says we can come fearlessly and confidently before God in prayer to receive His mercy and be forgiven