Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – 1 Chronicles 15-19
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Mark 11:22-26
Jesus: Trust in God. If you do, honestly, you can say to this mountain, “Mountain, uproot yourself and throw yourself into the sea.” If you don’t doubt, but trust that what you say will take place, then it will happen. So listen to what I’m saying: Whatever you pray for or ask from God, believe that you’ll receive it and you will. When you pray, if you remember anyone who has wronged you, forgive him so that God above can also forgive you. If you don’t forgive others, don’t expect God’s forgiveness.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Sometimes Jesus’ words are just hard, aren’t they? Sometimes I just want to overlook the things He says and pretend He really didn’t mean them. Like these last words. “…if you remember anyone who has wronged you, forgive him so that God above can also forgive you. If you don’t forgive others, don’t expect God’s forgiveness.” I would just as soon not hear those words. I would like Jesus to just forget to tell us that and tell us that God will just forgive us and forget the rest.
Unfortunately, He didn’t. He said it. He made it pretty clear. If you don’t forgive others, don’t expect forgiveness from God. He gave us a few illustrations to make it clear. The story of the king that forgave the servant who owed him 500 years wages and then the servant failed to forgive a fellow servant a few day’s wages. Remember what happened to him? He and his family were thrown into jail until he could pay it all back. That meant forever.
Jesus meant what He said. Forgiveness is why He came to earth. That’s why He put on human flesh and spent thirty years walking beside us suffering the same things we suffer. That’s why He worked and toiled and preached and taught. That’s why He took on the Pharisees and the scribes to help us understand what God really wants us to know about having a relationship with Him. That’s why Jesus took all the ridicule from the religious leaders. That’s why He endured the cross. It was all about forgiveness.
He came to teach us about both God’s forgiveness and to forgive each other. The power of forgiveness is incredible. It is a god-like power. It does something for the person that forgives that no other physical or psychological action can do for you. It changes you attitude toward other people.
Does forgiveness mean you act as if nothing ever happened? Sometimes, but not always. There are consequences for someones actions. Those consequences are borne by the person who commits sinful and wicked acts. It would be negligence to put an embezzler in charge of your treasury. But you can still forgive that embezzler for his crimes. He may need to make restitution and even go to jail as a consequence of his crimes. That’s not your fault, it’s his. But you can forgive.
So what’s the difference? Forgiveness doesn’t excuse bad behavior. It doesn’t condone wickedness. It doesn’t let people off the hook. But forgiveness stops the attitude that seeks revenge. It stops the attitude that wants harm to come to the person who wronged you. It stops that, “I’ll get even with her, if it’s the last thing I do, feeling.” You see, all of those characteristics breed bitterness and hatred. And those are not compatible with the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus never condoned bad behavior. But He forgave. He never condoned evil. But He forgave. He didn’t let people off the hook to continue to do as they pleased. But He forgave their past. Jesus never held a grudge. He never sought vengance. He never tried to get even. He never wanted to hurt anyone.
Instead, Jesus forgave. Even when He hung on the cross as an innocent sacrifice for all the sins of all the people who ever lived and would ever live, Jesus forgave.
When we forgive, the anguish of how to get back goes away. When we forgive, the plotting for justice disappears. When we forgive, the bitterness because of circumstances melts from our hearts. We can live in the warmth of God’s love and mercy and grace. We can know He forgives and so we can forgive, too.
And what if we don’t forgive? What if we hang on to that bitterness and seek for revenge or justice or quid pro quo for those who do us wrong? Jesus says we should not expect God to forgive us if we do not forgive others. Elsewhere He said God forgive us in the same measure, to the same degree that we forgive others.
That’s a pretty scary thought if you hold ill will against someone. I don’t want God to bring that up at the judgment one day. I’d like to know that my slate is clean and I’m forgiven. But Jesus tells me that the only way that happens if for me to also forgive. It’s a tall order, but not an impossible one when He help us.
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