As we get to chapters 23 and 24 of Job, we observe three calm, vulnerable responses from him. Take the time to read through these two chapters—they’re magnificent!
Read MoreCategory Archives: Forgiveness
Freedom through Forgiveness
I was having lunch at my desk one day, and happened to pull up the Insight for Living Ministries Web site to read the daily devotional. That day, the devotional was Cynthia Swindoll’s testimony, called “My Story.” The devotional, I found out, was adapted from a message Chuck Swindoll preached on Matthew 18, titled “Looking […]
Read MoreForgive . . . and Sing the Song of the Soul Set Free
I haven’t been able to get the subject of forgiveness out of my mind. Perhaps the reason is that there is so much unforgiveness in our world. Violence headlines our news with the same revengeful message: “You hurt me, so I will hurt you.” Tragic, isn’t it? The cure to conflict is so obtainable. Yet […]
Read MoreReconciling Unforgiveness
Jesus tells us to stop praying for forgiveness until we’ve made things right with people we need to forgive or ask forgiveness from. I believe most of us try to do that. But what if it is impossible for me to reconcile because the offended person has died? It’s impossible to get a hearing, but your conscience remains seared.
Read MoreThe Path to Freedom
Do you need to be set free? Honestly now, is your next step the need to forgive? Do it. Don’t let anything or anyone talk you out of it. I know, I know. After all the misery you have had to endure, why should you have to be the one who humbles yourself and forgives?
Read MoreThe Ultimate Class Act
Class Action is a class act. It’s a film about two lawyers who go head-to-head, both in court and in life. They are father and daughter . . . on opposite sides of a complicated case charged with the full spectrum of emotions.
Read MoreForgetting Your Own Good Deeds
Yesterday, we talked about what it means to “forget” when other people do bad deeds to us. Today, I want to address forgetting when we do good deeds to others. In other words, once our own good deeds are done, they’re done. Forget them. No need to drop little hints on how thoughtful we were. Just as we refuse to keep score of how people have offended us, we don’t keep score of all we’ve done for them.
Read MoreCan We Really Ever Forget?
A question flashes through my head as I write these words: can our minds actually allow us to forget? The way God has made us with that internal filing system we call “memory”—it is doubtful we can fully forget even the things we want to forget.
Read MoreForgiving and Forgetting
“I’ll forgive . . . but I’ll never forget.” We say and hear that so much that it’s easy to shrug it off as “only natural.” That’s the problem! It is the most natural response we can expect. Not supernatural. It also can result in tragic consequences.
Read MoreHow to Make Forgiveness Happen
There is enough in the past few days’ worth of devotionals to keep us thinking (and forgiving) for weeks. But there are a couple of specific applications that need to be considered. First, focus fully on God’s forgiveness of you. Don’t hurry through this. Think of how vast, how extensive His mercy has been extended toward you, like David did when he wrote “Hymn 103.”
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