Monday March 18 2013

Weekly Challenge

Who hates you or seeks to harm you? Who do you hate? Try to be radically generous and sacrificially loving to those people this week.

 

Read: Matthew 5:44-45, Matthew 18:21-35

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

CS Lewis, Essay on Forgiveness

 

We cannot discuss forgiving and showing grace to others without discussing the great grace and forgiveness which God has shown to us. Jesus is not only the example of grace and forgiveness as we discussed yesterday, He is also the reason that we show grace and forgiveness to others.

 

Let us pause for a moment and consider again the wonder of God’s great forgiveness and grace to us. Whilst we were enemies of God, cut off from Him by the immeasurable debt of sin, He died on our behalf, suffering the pain and shame of the cross, bearing the wrath of God and rising again to prove that our debt had been paid once and for all.

 

Imagine if you had a credit card with a balance owing of $1,000,000,000. There is no way that you could ever pay that debt back, no way you could even earn enough to pay the interest on such a debt. This is like our debt with God, Jesus has paid the debt in full on our behalf.

 

After this debt had been paid for you a friend of yours comes to you who owes you $100 asking that you give them more time to pay. Rather than pass on the grace you have been shown you demand that they pay back the $100 immediately or you will take them to court. Can you see the great injustice that this would be?

 

Jesus applies this parable to us. When we do not show grace and forgiveness to others we are committing the same injustice. Why do we love our enemies and show kindness when we are attacked? Because the great and holy God of the universe loved us when we were still His enemies and showed kindness to us when we attacked Him.

 

Prayer:

Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

Adoration:

 

Confession:

 

Thanks:

 

Supplication:

¥ Praise God that through Jesus Christ He has paid the immeasurable debt of your sin on your behalf. Praise God that through what Christ has done you can be in relationship with Him forever. Pray that today you would remember God’s great forgiveness for you when others sin against you. Pray that the Holy Spirit would work in your heart that you might be able to forgive and love freely.

¥ Pray for all the cell groups that are gathering throughout this week. Pray that that God would change lives through His word and that we would challenge and encourage each other to live out our faith.

 

My Additional Prayer Points.

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