December 12 2011

Heavenly Forgiveness
 
Reading: Ephesians 4:32, 32Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. [NASB]
Matthew 6:12, Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
I John 3:16, This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. [NIV]

Often, it is difficult to imagine how it will be in heaven? Can you try to imagine, though, how forgiveness will look in heaven? You will have Uriah the Hittite in the same place that King David will be, when David slept with Uriah’s wife, got her pregnant and, then, if that wasn’t enough, he set him up to be killed “in battle”. If it weren’t for the fact that the Bible says that we will be changed to be like Christ in heaven, I can just imagine Uriah, sitting in his golden chair across from David, with the squinting look and the “I’m watching you” gesture… for all eternity. Then, you have Stephen who will be in the same place as Saul who stood there holding the coats of the men who were stoning him to death. But, then there’s you… standing there in heaven with whip in one hand and hammer in another, with head hung low out of shame for beating Jesus and nailing Him to the cross as a result of your sin. Yet, Jesus would walk over to you and say, “Oh, you don’t need those here. I forgave you a long time ago. No need to keep holding onto it.” Imagine the level of forgiveness that we will be able to experience… but, what about the forgiveness that you will need to give to those who hurt you severely but are also in heaven? According to these verses, we shouldn’t be waiting until heaven to forgive those people and love them… today, you can offer pure, heavenly forgiveness to those who have wronged and hurt you.

Who has hurt you to a level that makes it difficult to truly forgive them?

Why would being in heaven make a difference in your purity of forgiveness?

How can you apply that same outlook and forgiveness today to those who have hurt you?
End of the Day Review
  
How were you able to forgive those who have hurt you and how were you able to demonstrate that forgiveness?
 

 How did you feel after offering pure, heavenly forgiveness?