One of the greatest pictures of forgiveness I see is in couples who have been married a long time. Picture any two people living together. After all of those years, they must have shared so much of life together. Surely, even if you can't see it, there have been times when they disagreed about something or when they messed up and hurt the other. What lasts forever, though? A love that forgives, I see, and a love that presses on during hard times.
Our God lives a lifestyle of forgiveness. He keeps loving us, even when we turn away from Him and go our own way. It is why He eventually sent His Son, Jesus, to die for the times we turned against Him. Forgiveness is a part of His nature. Nothing can separate us from His love.
Romans 8:38-39 (NASB) says:
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing,
will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
God's perfect love shows in His forgiveness. With His help, we can make it a part of our every day walk with Him. As He makes our hearts be more forgiving, hopefully others will see Him working in us and will see more of how our Lord loves.
Is there someone on your mind that doesn't know God's forgiveness? Let's pray for them, so they see and know His grace.
Mighty God, we are amazed at the way You forgive us. Help us practice forgiveness the way that You do. Help someone on our minds today, someone who doesn't know You, come to know Your forgiveness as well. We pray that they come to be a part of Your loving family. Amen.
Above study based on the workbook HeartCall: Women Sharing God's Heart (Jaye Martin, 1999).
Photo from www.revitalizecounselingservices.com.
