Sunday 28 Sep 2014

September 28: Ephesians 1:3-12

Key Verse: Ephesians 1:8
which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

Devotion:
One thing I do love to do is to forgive people. Sounds a bit strange, but to me it is a great fulfilling of my heart to be able to forgive people. Do they have to know? Well it is a whole lot better if they do know that you forgive them and that can be very hard sometimes, confronting someone when all you want to do is run away! But can you imagine what God must feel like knowing that we have wronged Him and that we are asking for forgiveness now. But His hand of forgiveness is not just limited to us who ask; His hand of forgiveness is offered to every person!

Does that mean that we are all forgiven? I don’t think so. If I were to try and gain forgiveness from a friend by bullying them into feeling guilty so they would feel like they have to forgive me, I would certainly not deserve anything from them! But there is the strange thing; they may want to forgive me even though I am acting like a prize idiot! They may want to forgive me because they know it is right and they know that through that forgiveness we may question what we have done and turn away from it eventually.

And that is one of the beauties about forgiving others. No matter how bad they are, they are being exposed to goodness through our forgiving them. They are being opened up just a little bit to the wonders of forgiveness and the love that goes with that. So if you want to share a bit of love today in a slightly different way, step forward and forgive someone who is not expecting it!

We cannot hope to fathom the depths of Christ’s love for us, but by taking a step forward and using what He has taught us, we can begin to see just how special life can be when we live it in the arms of our Saviour. We can begin to see how amazing our God is and how full of grace His way of life can be. Sharing His love with others prepares us for a fuller life with Him, just as He planned it.

Points to Ponder:
Do you carry grudges?

What is God carried grudges?