Forgiving one another

Forgiving one another

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32).

A long time ago I fell out with a much older sister in our local fellowship. Today I can’t remember why this happened, only the distress it caused. Around the same time we had invited a brother to come to our meeting to minister God’s word. He didn’t travel widely but he agreed to come. In the evening he spoke on Ephesians 4:31-32.

On that occasion in a small hall with not many people in attendance God taught me some very important lessons. He taught that He is mindful of the times that His people hurt each other and the damage this causes, not only to those involved, but also to the flock of God. He taught me, too, that He acts, when we won’t, to bring about reconciliation between those who love each other in Christ, but whose relationship is damaged. He taught me that He can put His word into the hearts of those who serve Him, to bring about blessings they may never know about until they get to heaven. He taught me about the incisive power of God’s word and how that power is so often expressed in the gentlest of ways. And the Lord Jesus taught me about the need to respond to what He asks us to do.

At the end of the meeting I sat overwhelmed by the need to be reconciled to a dear sister I loved in the Lord. I got up and went to her and began to speak. But she stopped me and said, “Gordon, I want to say sorry for what happened between us.” In that moment we both had the most wonderful sense of the joy and blessing of the kindness, tenderness and forgiveness of God expressed in the Person of Christ.

From the beginning of creation Satan’s work has been to destroy our relationship with God and with each other. He did this in the lives of Adam and Eve and in the lives of their children, Cain and Abel. He did it in the families of the patriarchs and in the nation of Israel and he has continued to do it throughout the course of the history of this sad world. Most distressingly, he has done it amongst the flock of God.

The Lord Jesus, before He went to the cross, prayed to the Father, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:22-23). It is the love of God for us, and its expression through us, that benefits the flock of God so much and speaks so powerfully to the world. I damage the fellowship of God’s people and their witness to the world by being unkind, hard-hearted, and unforgiving. The remedy, as always, is found in the Person of the Lord Jesus and having the courage and humility to follow Him.