Father, I have innumerable reasons to be grateful. You are with me each day. You never give up on me. You never stop giving. I am so grateful for a good night’s sleep. I am grateful for a loving wife, for a beautiful family, for churches who care, for gainful employment, for a home to call my own… All gifts from Your bountiful hand. May the way I live out my life be continually mindful of Your love for me. Amen.

Matthew 6:14-15 (<<click the green)

Lord, it is important that I mull over this word – forgiveness. Where would I be without it? Lost, that is where I would be. Condemned. Damned to an eternity separated from You.

And it’s not like I have only dipped into the mighty reserves of Your forgiveness a couple of times. You graciously forgive me each and every time I come to You and humbly ask. You never withhold. You never say that I am coming to the end of the number of times You will forgive me.

O, Lord, truly, where would I be without Your forgiveness?

I readily accept Your forgiveness, so why is it so difficult to extend my forgiveness to others? If a perfect, holy God can forgive me, one who in and of myself am nowhere near perfect or holy, why do I struggle at times in forgiving those who are in the same boat as I?

What You said here in Matthew 6:14-15 is straightforward. There is absolutely no way to misinterpret Your words.

“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.”

Lord, I like to think I am a forgiving person…but there are people with which I struggle. And I am not alone, we all have people that say things that irk us, do things that hurt us and sometimes just rub us the wrong way every time we come into contact with them. And we just can’t seem to let it go. But we must.

Verse 15 from the Amplified Bible helps me focus.

“But if you do not forgive others [nurturing your hurt and anger with the result that it interferes with your relationship with God], then your Father will not forgive your trespasses.”

Where would I be without Your forgiveness, O God? Lost, that is where I would be. Condemned. Damned to an eternity separated from You. Help me to forgive others as willingly and as generously as You forgive me. Amen.

Jan 23rd, 2018, Tues, 6:22 am