Why Is It So Hard?

August 18, 2015

Why Is It So Hard?

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Matthew 6:14-15

There is a bit of a conundrum in these words of Jesus. Elsewhere in the NT, we are taught that our forgiveness is through the blood of Jesus, not any action we take. (See Hebrews 9, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14) So which is it? Are we forgiven by God because we forgive those who sin against us, or are we forgiven by God through the blood Jesus shed on the cross? Yes.

Jesus’ words quoted above are a part of his Sermon on the Mount which occurred approximately two and one-half years before his crucifixion. At that time he had not been sacrificed as an offering for our sins. If those people listening to him on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee wanted to get right with God, they had to act right. For those of us today who want to get right with God, we are redeemed through God’s grace by faith in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Even so, Jesus’ words give us an insight into the very heart of God. God wants us to be right with each other as much as He wants us to be right with Him. Jesus magnified this insight in his final discourse to his disciples in John’s Gospel: “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35). Jesus repeated this command a short time later, but this time he linked it to the joy-filled life of his followers: “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you” (John 15:11-12).

There we have it. When we are willing to forgive others for the sake of our right relationship with our Abba Father, we will be filled with the joy of Jesus and our joy will overflow so that the life of Jesus is visible in our mortal flesh.

It sounds so simple. Why is it so hard to incorporate the simplicity of Jesus’ teaching into our daily lives?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.