Tim's Topics: You Are Forgiven!

Tim's Topics: You Are Forgiven!: Ephesians 4:32   ESV Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. I recently w...

You Are Forgiven!

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.