As I was reading my devotion this morning in 2 Corinthians I came across the verses where Paul is writing to the church at Corinth and telling them to forgive the man who caused him hurt and who hurt them. He tells them to love that man so that he doesn't become discouraged. Verses 9-11 are the ones that caught my attention.
v9-11 "I wrote to you as I did to test you and see if you would fully comply with my instructions. When you forgive this man, I forgive him, too. And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ's authority for your benefit, so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes."
As I pondered on these verses it really became clear how unforgiveness only hurts us. Forgiving someone, especially someone who has no remorse whatsoever is very, very difficult! Something that we can not do on our own. It takes the power of Christ to do so. An unforgiving spirit can often turn to hate and bitterness which eat at our souls like cancer. We become unproductive in our service for Christ and our heart springs a leak to which all our joy runs out!! Satan knows that if he can keep us bitter, and keep us thinking that we have the "right" to be mad and unforgiving, he has us in a place where no true fellowship or service with Jesus can occur. Paul knew this, and thus the warning for the church at Corinth.
I call out to anyone reading this to be aware of Satan's evil schemes!!! Do not allow unforgiveness to creep in your heart. Turn it over to Jesus. Please realize that this may not be a one time process. It may be 2 times a day you have to ask for help, 3 times, hourly or even minute by minute!! Every time you call out to the Lord to help you forgive you are denying the roots of bitterness, hate and a break in fellowship to take hold. I NEVER want to be Satan's helper....do you?
No comments:
Post a Comment