Monday, January 25, 2016

Forgiveness...It's A Forever Thing

Genesis 50:18-21 -  Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”  Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?  But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.  Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

The death of Jacob brought new thoughts of repercussions of the wrong the brothers of Joseph had brought upon him. They began to doubt the forgiveness and mercy their brother had already shown to them…sending messengers with embellished words…supposedly from Jacob…to forgive them for what they had done to him.  The fear gripped them so hard that they offered themselves as servants of Joseph.

Joseph simply told them not to be afraid…that he was not God.  He repeated his words from before that God had taken the evil deed they had meant for harm and used it to protect and care for all of them in a time of famine.  He vowed to care for them and their children and comforted them.  His forgiveness was a forever thing…not a momentary thought.

I am guilty of asking for forgiveness…and then allowing satan to use my thoughts of failure to rekindle my guilt.   Satan wants to weaken our faith…to get us to stay locked in the past…so God can’t use the lessons of character from our mistake to make us stronger. If satan can keep us thinking about all the mistakes we made…God has a harder time using those mistakes to bring about the good he wants to come from them.

What a great reminder that forgiveness should be forever.  Jesus put no time restraints on the mercy he gives us when we ask him to come into our heart. We should put no time restraints on the forgiveness and mercy we show to others that have hurt us. We should put no stipulations on the forgiveness we show to ourselves.


Father…thank you for the reminder that forgiveness is a forever thing.  Forgive me for the times that I have turned things over to you …only to take them back as time and events tricked me into thinking I never turned them over at all.  Help me to feel the permanence of your mercy and love…so that the forgiveness you give me feeds my faith with new energy and passion.  Help me to be more like Joseph…and forgive completely….forever.  Amen.

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