Bear with each other, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against anyone: even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love (agape), which is the bond of perfection. [Colossians 3:13-14]
The sermon in our church this Sunday was on Love. It was a very good sermon that is needed in most churches today as well as our homes. There are so many scriptures that deal with this very topic. We have to love one another to be in that bond of perfection, so that at the judgment seat of our Lord we can say that love was the motivating factor of what what ever we did. Love thy neighbor as thy self. How much plainer can that be? If we cannot bear another’s burdens or forgive a person then where are we in our Christian walk?
The enemy (Satan) is always on the move, constantly attacking God’s people with many different things. Some of his most effective devices are anger, bitterness and not forgiving, which are most often based on reality, and sometimes deep, hurtful wounds that we have received from others in the faith, in other words Christians. In Paul’s writings we can read that we should not be ignorant of the enemy's schemes and how he will use these things to destroy our walk with the Lord. We can read in (2 Cor. 2:11) that Bitterness, resentment and un forgiveness give Satan the opportunity to quench the Holy Spirit and destroy the Christians fellowship with the Lord and other Christians. Just as Paul taught and urged restraint, forbearance, forgiveness, and above all else, the kind of love which our Lord Jesus showed to us; a love which covered our sins against Him, forgiving us and restoring our relationship with Him. This is not a love which is natural to us. Our nature is to hold on to offenses, to desire justice, recompense, or even revenge. We must realize that the love we need to truly forgive others for the wrongs did to us comes from another Source. The first and greatest commandment and the second greatest commandment symbolize and should embody something very dear, and precious in the Christian’s life, something which can be terribly damaged by an enemy you feel justified to hate.
Our memory ( what we allow to go round and round in our minds) is a constant temptation to nurture hate and un forgiveness. Is this how a Christian should want to live? Will a place transgression become a memorial unto hatred and revenge, or hardness of heart and a never-ending cry for "justice"? If so, you will find yourself bound to that hate forever, just as if you were chained and bound to it." "Vengeance is Mine, says the Lord, I will repay." So, not only can you afford to forgive and leave justice in His hands, but the freedom and joy of loving the way God loves, will also be yours. Jesus has forgiven us. We should forgive others as we've been forgiven. Let's cut choose forgiveness, in the name of Jesus Christ, and put on (agape) love. The kind of love that never fails!
