Forgiveness
The Process of Forgiving – Part V

Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:38-48

Key Verse: Matthew 5:44
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.

Forgiveness is one of the toughest aspects of “Kingdom Fitness”.

If you are married, then the one person who needs your forgiveness the most is your spouse. If your spouse is anything like me, they often come up short of loving you perfectly. When this happens, your spouse does not need your lecture, they need your forgiveness.

Of course, you also come up short of loving your spouse perfectly. What is it that you want? Do you want a lecture or an argument because you cannot love perfectly? Of course not. You want your spouse to simply forgive you.

Jesus prompts us to forgive our spouse and all people for their imperfect behavior.

This teaching of Jesus started in The Sermon on the Mount (the first sermon Jesus gave):

“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12).

We often quote the first part of this verse; we know it as the “Golden Rule”.

However, look again at the last part of this verse. Jesus said that the Golden Rule is the “essence of all that is taught.” The essence of something is the sum, the completion of all things. In other words, understand that you can follow the Golden Rule in all your interactions with other people… spouse, children, parents, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and everyone you know or encounter.

Every time you have a question about how to respond to someone, there is only one question to ask yourself. How do I want someone to respond to me?

I love Jesus’s teachings, so simple yet so comprehensive. Anyone can understand what Jesus is saying about how to deal with people around us. So many people excuse themselves for not reading the Bible with the reason “it’s hard to understand”.

If you have said that the Bible is too hard to understand, then learn this truth: “The plain things are the main things and the main things are the plain things” (quote attributed to Alistair Begg, referencing the Bible and Christianity).

There are some things in the Bible that are hard to understand, but these are never the main things that we need to know for our salvation and daily life with God.

Do you want to stay Kingdom Fit? If so, then learn the lessons of forgiveness, and give to others what you want them to give to you!

Father, with Your help, I will quickly give to others my forgiveness and treat them like they have never offended me! In Jesus’s Name, amen.