Radical Forgiveness

 Radical Forgiveness

Matthew 6:9-13     Matthew 5:23-24

 
This week we dove into the line of the Lord’s prayer where Jesus taught us to ask God to forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Those two parts were always meant to go hand-in-hand, because we can’t be right with God and wrong with His kids. This idea shows up repeatedly throughout Jesus’ teachings. Love for God and love for others can never be separated. He made this exact point earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, in the chapter before we get to His prayer we have been studying.
 
Let’s take a closer look together.

Pray…

Heavenly Father, may your name be kept holy. I want to honor you by loving and respecting your kids well. Jesus, help me love others the same way you have loved me. Holy Spirit, open my eyes and help me see the people around me how you see them today. I will obey your promptings. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Read…

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23-24 NIV

Consider…

As followers of Jesus, we have been called to pursue reconciliation as soon as conflict emerges. It’s not enough to just not be a jerk to other people when we’re upset; that’s a given. Instead, we are to be so motivated to restore relationships that we will go to great lengths to make things right.

How great of lengths? Well, if we take what Jesus says at face value, then we’re looking at an 80-mile round trip to go from the temple, back to the village where the person we need to be reconciled to likely is, and then back to the temple to present our offering.

If we look at the heart of what Jesus is saying, we learn how important fixing broken relationships is to God. In the scenario Jesus presents, we are at the temple preparing to present an offering to God as an act of worship. And then we remember that Jimbo from back home is upset with us because of something we said out of frustration. Jesus is telling us that God cares more about us working things out with Jimbo than the offering we were about to present.

Why is this such a big deal? Because we cannot be right with God if we are wrong with others. Loving God cannot be separated from loving people. So, the next time you remember that somebody has something against you or maybe you have something against someone else, go to that person and do your best to be made right with them.

That’s what radical forgiveness looks like. That’s how Jesus forgave us. Humbly, our King disadvantaged Himself for our sake and He went to the greatest imaginable lengths to do so.

So as we are learning to become like Jesus for the sake of others, let’s pray and ask our heavenly Father to help us forgive as we have been forgiven.

Practice…

Forgiveness and confession require humility. They require us to refuse to see ourselves as superior or entitled, but rather as another sinner saved by God’s grace. Continue to ask God to help you see yourself and others more truly today.

Is there a sin you need to confess? Bitterness you need to root out? Someone you need to forgive? Process those questions in prayer and respond with radical obedience today.

Listen…

Create space to experience God’s presence by getting quiet, getting alone, and asking Him to speak. Start by setting a timer for five minutes.

Next, ask God to speak to you.

When you get distracted, because you will get distracted, bring your focus back to God by repeating the first words of the Lord’s prayer: “Our Father…”

When the timer ends, thank God for the time you got to spend with Him, then head into your day looking for opportunities to better serve Him and serve others.