“…when you stand praying, if you hold ANYTHING AGAINST ANYONE, 1FORGIVE THEM, so that your Father in heaven MAY FORGIVE YOU your sins.” (Mark 11:25)
1aphiēmi: to send away, to give up, to let go, to forgive. Why do you think it is so important for us to forgive anyone who has offended us? Well, think about this, we all have sinned against our heavenly Father because we were all born into sin because of the sin of Adam.
“…through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, BECAUSE ALL SINNED.” (Rom. 5:12)
What is the problem with this: “…the wages of sin IS DEATH, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23)
The wages or payment we receive for our sin, is eternal damnation, eternal separation from God, that’s what DEATH means! Fortunately, God has provided us a “free gift”: ETERNAL LIFE! OK, how do we get this gift?
“…turn away from your sins. Turn to God. Then your sins will be wiped away. The time will come when the Lord will make everything new.” (Acts 3:19)
We ask God to forgive our sins and He will, then we turn away from anything we were doing, causing us to sin and live for God! Now, we may live for God as a brand-new creation of Jesus Christ because:
“…God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Listen to this: “…if anyone is in Christ, HE IS A NEW CREATURE; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corin. 5:17)
Our heavenly Father has made us a brand-new creation, so as a forgiven and redeemed child of God…shouldn’t we be quick to forgive anyone who has done anything to offend us?
Remember, we will be forgiven AS WE FORGIVE…Bill Stockham