Day 338 or December the 4th. Almost too good
to be true. Our thoughts today are from Colossians
chapter 3 verse 13. Bear with each other and
forgive one another if any of you has a grievance
against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave
you. And now the big picture surrounding this
verse. Having declared who Jesus is, Paul then
goes on to tell all believers that we must put
off the old man and put on the new he tells the
Colossians that they have to instigate this themselves
as part of growing up in Christ he goes on to
say we must lead holy lives within our family
in our workplace and in society in general He
has lots of comments about otherwise unknown
Christians such as Tychicus, Aristarchus, Epaphras
and many more. Without their brief mention in
the Bible these ordinary people like you and
me would slip into history unknown to us but
known personally to Jesus. And now today's action
step. When you read today's verse Try reading
it in reverse order. Then we read that God forgave
us, you and me, a more undeserving case I cannot
imagine than the grey -haired man who greets
me daily as I look in the mirror to have a shave
every morning. I have to say that I wouldn't
forgive me because I know me. Most of us would
say that too if we are totally honest. In fact,
I think all of us would. In spite of letting
Him down and breaking our word over and over
again, 1 John 1 verse 9 reminds us that if we
confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all wickedness. Notice what it says, not just
forgiveness, but cleansing. What a Saviour! Now
carry on reading in reverse order. We are to
forgive like this. Only God can help us do this,
and I, for one, am constantly dependent on God
for this ability, aren't you? Don't sit there
struggling over how to forgive others. Stop and
thank God for forgiving you. Bask in that pardon,
and when it finally really sinks in, you will
find forgiving others a lot easier than before.
If it's still hard, you need to bask some more.