Chris' Christian Blog

June 16, 2018

"June 16, 2018" 

"Prompt: Many people have trouble with forgiveness because they have been taught it is a singular act to be completed in one sitting. That is not so. Forgiveness has many layers, many seasons. Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Let this quote inspire your blog entry."

I recently preached at my church and the topic of my sermon was forgiveness. I preached it because there is a lot of bitterness in our church. I also preached it because I love my church family and I;m not willing to see any of them suffer loss because of sin. You see holding a grudge against a brother or sister in Christ or anybody else for that matter is a sin. Jesus taught us that we are to be willing to forgive. Matthew 18: 21-36 was the text I used in preaching my sermon. In it a slave had borrowed money from his master and the master went to collect. The slave didn't have it so the master seized everything he had including his family, ordered it all sold, and the bill repaid. The slave begged the master and the master forgave all the debt. Then the slave went out and found a fellow slave who owed him a much smaller amount. He treated the fellow slave badly and had him thrown in debtor's prison until the amount was paid. The master found out and was very angry. He called the servant in and demanded full payment of the original debt since the servant would not forgive a smaller debt. Jesus concluded by saying God would treat us the same way if we did not forgive others completely for whatever they do to us. We have no right to hold grudges. When we do we set ourselves up to be condemned because God absolutely will not forgive us either.


Prompt: "I think we are already in a lot of trouble, actually!"

I can envision many people saying something quite similar to this come judgment day. They have their entire lives to prepare for death by accepting Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for their sin, Instead they rationalize and intellectualize themselves into believing that Jesus is a myth and that there will be no price to be paid for sin, Then they die and find out that they were wrong. Now it is too late and their fate is sealed, Oh how awful to fall into the hands of an angry God!
}