Ephesians
4:32 ESV
Be kind to one
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
I recently was reading a news article about a family, and I
scrolled down to the replies and observed some readers not willing to forgive
this family, or family member.
Likewise I recently read a social media post in which the
person asked for forgiveness. It was refreshing to see the number of loving
replies to that person, it was awesome to see love and forgiveness in such a
great supply.
Today as we celebrate the first day of Advent, the hope in
the coming of the Messiah is what we focus our strength and God’s guidance on
today and this week. In this hope of the Messiah to come, we will see that His
life, His ministry, and His story revolve around our hope in the promise of
forgiveness and salvation.
Beloved, our call for today is to forgive others and to love
others as Christ loves us. Our Creator God was hurt by our turning from him, as
well as the way that we treated His Son. But as Christ hung on the cross, he
said to His Father: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”. Yes, God continues to forgive us in this
broken and fractured world, likewise the call is more present than ever for us
to forgive others as well.
The Hope of Christmas is in the hope that a baby born in a
simple manger will bring to us, a world that truly needs to know what true love
is about. My prayer is that this Christmas season you will feel God’s call to a
new sense of hope and a new call to forgive someone that is hard to forgive. The
forgiveness that you feel for somebody strengthens you as much as it strengthens
the one asking for forgiveness.
Christ forgives you and I forgive you. Go this week and forgive others.
Pastor Tim.
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