Scripture standout: Ps 103: "13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;"
Matthew 18: "34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
Morning thoughts: Forgiveness and compassion. Two biggies. And to forgive from your heart? Whew! When I think about forgiving from the heart vs. just forgiving on the surface, I think of Ben and Marley. One will do something unjust to the other. I'll bust them. Then I'll say to one, "you owe him an apology," or, "you march over there and tell her you're sorry right this minute." And what comes next? The sneering, google-eyed, lip curled, high-pitched, "sooooooooorrryyyy." NOT from the heart.
Or what about the forgiveness that I feel like I am giving someone from my heart — the kind of forgiveness where you understand why someone might have acted a certain unappealing way and decide to just forgive and forget — that just keeps coming back time and time again for more forgiveness?
And how do you forgive people like the terrorists behind 9-11? That is forgiveness of the hardest kind. That's the kind of forgiveness, I think, that only comes from letting God handle it.
His Deed/The Day: I spend a good bit of time with someone who talks — a lot. He doesn't ask a lot of questions, he rarely asks for opinions and he frequently rants. Do you know people like this? The ones who are so in tune with themselves and their own thoughts, and spend so much time loudly proclaiming them, that they have no idea how to take the "I" out of conversation and replace it with a "u?" It's a very annoying personality trait. I've run several big races since knowing this person, and never once has he ever asked me how they went. So today, I asked him how he did in his event. Not sure what kind of deed that is — to show interest in someone else's life strictly because they never show an interest in yours — but it felt deed-worthy because it was hard to do.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Or what about the forgiveness that I feel like I am giving someone from my heart — the kind of forgiveness where you understand why someone might have acted a certain unappealing way and decide to just forgive and forget — that just keeps coming back time and time again for more forgiveness?
And how do you forgive people like the terrorists behind 9-11? That is forgiveness of the hardest kind. That's the kind of forgiveness, I think, that only comes from letting God handle it.
His Deed/The Day: I spend a good bit of time with someone who talks — a lot. He doesn't ask a lot of questions, he rarely asks for opinions and he frequently rants. Do you know people like this? The ones who are so in tune with themselves and their own thoughts, and spend so much time loudly proclaiming them, that they have no idea how to take the "I" out of conversation and replace it with a "u?" It's a very annoying personality trait. I've run several big races since knowing this person, and never once has he ever asked me how they went. So today, I asked him how he did in his event. Not sure what kind of deed that is — to show interest in someone else's life strictly because they never show an interest in yours — but it felt deed-worthy because it was hard to do.
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