INFUSED FORGIVENESS

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“Forgiveness is a vertical commitment that is followed by a horizontal transaction.”

Paul David Tripp...

Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you (VERTICAL), so you are also to forgive. (HORIZONTAL)

Colossians 3:12-13 (CSB)

I used to look at some of these “things” I am to “put on” as duties.  

But these days I look at them as amazing things to model and share.

For example, I AM dearly loved I can demonstrate and share compassion because I have been granted intense compassion.  In essence, I have extra to “give away” and I should!

...my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you. - Isaiah 54:10 (NIV)

The same could be said for kindness, gentleness, and patience.  The Lord consistently and constantly demonstrates those to me and to you, why wouldn’t I/we want to let folks in on the blessing?

Makes sense, doesn’t it?

But those are really the easy ones.

And I believe GOD ‘set us up a little’ with the first set of “things to put on” each day.  Compassion, kindness, gentleness and even though not always easy, patience are things that most of us innately share and model.  It is that pesky FORGIVENESS that for many (including me) throws a bit of a monkey wrench into the proceeding.

We say things like,

“Lord, do you know what they said about me?

Have you heard the rumors seen the vitriol and the heard the mocking tones and dismissiveness?”

They don’t know me and then they say that?

They questioned my dedication and painted me in a bad light.

What they did is unforgiveable.”

But in the same way that GOD has showered and overflowed compassion, kindness, gentleness and most certainly patience, GOD has extended the ultimate in forgiveness. 

God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. – Romans 5:8 (MSG)

That is more forgiveness that we can even fathom.

And oh by the way, Christ experienced all of those same “slings and arrows” we face and so much more and yet was still moved to utter when the pressure was beyond measure:

“Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.” – Luke 23:34 (MSG)

So, you probably know where I am going today. 

In the same way that our vertical infusions of compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience allow us to show and demonstrate them, don’t forget that we also have an intense measure of forgiveness and it too needs to be shared and demonstrated.

And don’t be naive, the LORD knew exactly what he was doing when he mentioned compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience first.  He knew we would need them all to effectively demonstrate a forgiving heart and spirit.

Therefore…

“In a word, live together in the forgiveness of your sins, for without it no human fellowship can survive. Don’t insist on your rights, don’t blame each other, don’t judge or condemn each other, don’t find fault with each other, but accept each other as you are, and forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts…” 

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I love you all!

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