Your Daily Devotional for November 26, 2007

 

November 26,  2007

 

 

Forgiveness

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

 

Matthew 18:21–22

 

 

A little boy who was visiting his grandparents was given his first slingshot. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target. As he came back to his grandma's backyard, he spied her pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit, and the duck fell dead.

 

The boy panicked. Desperately he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch that day, his grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes." But Sally said, "Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn't you, Johnny?" And she whispered to him, "Remember the duck!" So Johnny did the dishes.

 

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's, he finally couldn't stand it anymore. He confessed to his grandma that he'd killed the duck. "I know, Johnny," she said, giving him a hug. "I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you. "

 

This is how the Christian life sometimes is. We will sin against God and then try to hide it by not confessing it to Him. We live as slaves to sin and to the devil the whole time. But God already knows our sins and paid for them when He died on the Cross.

 

As His children, He wants us to come to Him and confess our sins. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God loves us and because He loves us, He forgives us, but we must first come to Him and ask for forgiveness.

 

Because He loves us and forgives us, we should also forgive others. There will be times when others will hurt us or wrong us. During those times, instead of becoming angry or upset, we should strive to be like Christ by forgiving them!

 

We all deserve eternal punishment for sinning against God, yet Christ died for us and paid for all our sins! What a great gift!

 

Do you sometimes become bitter and angry with others when they wrong you? We so often sin against God, yet He offers love and forgiveness to us. We need to show the love of Christ to those who have wronged us and forgive them. Who do you need to forgive today? Take time today to thank God for forgiving your sins!

 

Daily Bible Reading

Ezekiel 27-29 • 1 Peter 3

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