Inspirational article from Joanne Lowe

FORGIVENESS WEEK

“Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”

Luke 17: 3, 4 King James Version

I wonder what would happen if we set apart a week every month just to go to people we have hurt and ask for forgiveness. We would see hearts and lives changed and drawn closer to Jesus. Sometimes we forget that Jesus forgives us over and over again. Every time we ask Him for forgiveness, He is faithful to forgive us. Should we do less for our loved ones and friends than He does for us?

Jesus said that no matter how many times people hurt us, if they tell us they are sorry then we need to forgive them. He is not giving us an option; He is commanding us to forgive them. It is the same with loving each other. He doesn’t ask us to love; He tells us to love people.

If we would love people the way that Jesus has commanded us to love, we wouldn’t have to ask for forgiveness so many times. If we love Jesus like He wants us to love Him, we wouldn’t do so many things to hurt Him and break His Heart.

Every one of us needs forgiveness for something that we have done or said to someone that hurt that person. None of us are perfect and we hurt people just as they hurt us. We need to ask Jesus to help us love each other the way He wants us to love. We will make Him happy if we love others unconditionally just as He Loves us.

Joanne Lowe

May 30, 2006

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