Forgiving One Another

 Guest Blog by Gary Riedel

S - SCRIPTURE

kjv: Ephesians 4:32  Be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.

O - OBSERVATION: 

I memorized this verse as a child in parochial school. Within the last few weeks, prompted by the Spirit, I’ve had several opportunities to use it when it really fit. This verse reminds us that building relationships is really our responsibility. One other thing I’ve learned is that when we discipline ourselves to memorize scripture, there are no end of opportunities that the Spirit prompts us to use it. How grateful I am for the teachers who assigned verses to memorize and for the parents who insisted I learn them well.

A - APPLICATION: 

Through the inspiration of the Apostle Paul, God almost gives us a process for building relationships. In fact, that’s exactly what it is. If a relationship is to even have a chance, kindness 
is imperative, and so is a soft tender loving heart. Because we are all human, we all sin daily, but if we repent, God forgives us because Jesus paid the price for our sins. In the Lord’s Prayer(Luke 11:2-4), we say “ and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass 
against us”.  If we fail to forgive men their trespasses, how will God forgive us? God made a way through Jesus for us to forgive others and continue to build a relationship, rather than cast it aside. Our church’s vision statement is; “We are Alive in Christ developing relationships for life”. To truly do that, reminding ourselves of this verse is a great guide in doing exactly that!

P - Prayer: 

O Father I’m so often reminded of all the wonderful truths in Your Holy Word, help us to always make time to study it and seek out the richness that is within it. In Jesus Name, Amen

Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash