Poster Archive : June 2012
Message: Find forgiveness here
Bible verse: .....forgive us our sins, as we also have forgiven those who sin against us. (Matthew 6:12)
The newspapers described how a boy on his birthday was taken by his friends to a remote bush site, tormented and finally killed with an axe. No real motive could explain the killing. One of the boys recorded the grisly act on his phone. Afterwards, when it was played back in court, the parents of the dead boy heard, for the first time, how their son died in terror, pleading for his life while the ringleader taunted and mocked.
Can those devastated parents ever move out from under the shadow of that dreadful night? Can those murdering boys ever live without guilt?
Surely this act defines life for both family and killers from now on? Both tied together in a bond of resentful hate and shame. One group with haunted looks avoiding the accusing eyes of the other. Both looking backwards as the years pass.
The key to every wrong act in the world is forgiveness. You may not have actually murdered someone but Jesus makes it clear we all have murder in our hearts. Everyone has a deep spiritual problem that shows itself in all kinds of selfish, antisocial ways. Just take a moment to think honestly about what’s been in your heart over the last week.
Yes, it’s right to be angry at evil and it’s right to feel hurt when you’re wronged. But we need forgiveness just as much as the person who’s hurt us. We need God to forgive us for all the hurt and pain we’ve caused others.
So, victims and perpetrators everywhere need to look upwards to God. We all need His forgiveness. Our greatest crime before our maker is not loving Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. None of us have done this.
In the most famous prayer of all time Jesus teaches us to pray for forgiveness. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches that we need to ask God to, ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us’.
Jesus’s teaching is hard. He’s saying that God will forgive me in the same way that I forgive others. That is, in so far as I’m prepared to forgive, God will also forgive me. So please, ask God for forgiveness and learn to forgive others, as hard as that may be, so that God will forgive you.
Prayer: Lord, please forgive me and help me to forgive those who have wronged me.
