Thought for the Day - Sunday 13 September

 Thought for the Day – Sunday 13^th September

‘Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.  “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”’ (Matthew 18: 21-35)

 

In the words of Elton John, ‘Sorry seems to be the hardest word’!

 How hard do we find it at times to say sorry when we know that we have made a mistake?

 I suppose we may feel that to do so may mean swallowing our pride or overcoming our embarrassment or indeed laying ourselves open to a rejection or a snub or a put-down. Sometimes it might even appear to us that it is far easier to just put our heads down and ride out the storm and wait for the hurt of the other person to subside.

 Isn’t it interesting that young children seem to find saying sorry so easy – saying it almost automatically in some situations - maybe because they don’t fully understand what saying sorry means and so are happy to say it to please you but not genuinely believing what they say. However, as adults we have no such excuse because we do know what sorry means and still it can be so difficult for us to say it!

 However, if ‘sorry seems to be the hardest word’ then I think alongside it must be the words ‘I forgive you’ – for I think these three words are often equally hard for us to say and to mean. We may be happy enough to say them, we may want to mean them and may genuinely believe that we do forgive but to really forgive someone in the truest sense of the word - well that can be hard. Hard because all too often we haven’t really deep down forgiven the mistake or the person and so at a later time it can all be dredged back up again and then what we thought was long-forgotten once more rears its ugly head causing yet more pain and hurt – and I am sure we have all been guilty of this at some time in our lives.

However, this does not happen with God – for when we ask for forgiveness, when we say we are sorry it is all put behind us, it is all ‘done and dusted’, all over and done with, never again to rear its ugly head or be thrown back in our face or dragged back up in the heat of an argument. We are forgiven!

 

Isn’t that great news for us?

Indeed it is!

 But, and yes, there is a ‘but’ – because this is the kind of forgiveness God wants us to show others. It may not be easy for us but we must constantly strive to be as forgiving as God and yes we will probably fail in our striving at times but if God can forgive us our sins and mistakes and they are all put behind us then who are we not to forgive others theirs!

 

Prayer

 Loving Lord,

You forgive and forget, forgive and forget, forgive and forget, and keep on forgiving and forgetting. No matter what we do, no matter when we do it, you just want us back, back in relationship with you.

 How often have we struggled to forgive, let alone forget?

How many times are we willing to let go and move on?

It hurts when someone says or does something that is not loving towards us. It feels sore and painful, and sometimes, we have difficulty moving on.

 Gracious Lord, please forgive us once more! Help us to forgive and forget just as you do, not that the pain is any less at the time, but knowing that it will lessen when we let go. We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 Blessing

 Forgiveness is hard to receive and often more difficult to give.

As this week starts know that God can cope.

Receive forgiveness and go on.

Go on into this new week:

Forgiven by God,

Loved by Jesus,

And led by the Holy Spirit.