grudges Archives - Plain Bible Teaching

Willing to Forgive

“Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him” (Luke 17:3-4).

When Jesus taught His disciples about the need to forgive those who had sinned against them, they said, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). They recognized that it is not always easy to forgive, especially when others habitually or consistently sin against us – either “seven times a day” (Luke 17:4) or even “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22).

However, as the Lord’s disciples, we must be willing to forgive others as the Lord has forgiven us. Paul wrote, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).

We are to be willing to forgive, but what does this willingness to forgive look like?Continue Reading

When Did the Lord Restore Job’s Fortunes? (1/15)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Job 40-42.

When we read the book of Job, we have an advantage that this man of old did not have – we know that he is greatly blessed in the end. Job began as a wealthy man with a large family, but all of that was quickly taken away. He then suffered – unjustly, as he contended – unsure of what would happen in the future.

God certainly did bless Job in the end. But it is interesting to see when He did so:

“The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had two-fold” (Job 42:10).

Job’s friends had unjustly accused him of wrongdoing, arguing that this was the cause of his suffering. They had also misrepresented God, affirming that He was acting against Job, rather than Satan who had been allowed to afflict him. It would have been easy for Job to hold a grudge against his friends. But he did not. Instead he prayed for them. And he did not forgive them after his suffering was over and he was able to put it behind him. He forgave his friends, then God restored his fortunes.

We need to have the attitude of forgiveness of which Jesus spoke:

“Then Peter came and said to Him, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven’” (Matthew 18:21-22).

If we have been wronged, we need to be willing to forgive, even before our unfortunate circumstances improve.

Tomorrow’s reading: Genesis 12-15

[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]

Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.