New Mercies
Our sins are blotted out
We have a clean slate
Our efforts should be the same towards others
We accept forgiveness from the Lord for whatever we have done in our lives
Let us learn to be gracious toward those who have done us wrong
or treated us as less than
We excuse our unforgiveness by explaining to others how we were wronged
Let us bring those offenses before the Lord
that He can fill us with His mercy toward those who need our forgiveness
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;
if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” John 20:23
What does that mean, exactly?
Do Not keep reminding others of their sins
And, in your heart, let those things go into the hands of the Lord Jesus
Offer to those who have wronged you the Love and Forgiveness of the Lord
Do we have the right to forgive sins? Yes and no.
We are to forgive sins that are done against us
We are not responsible for how others react
By letting love reign in us, they may be drawn to the Lord
And isn’t that what we know the Lord wants for them?
God forbid anyone ever be damned because of our decision
We do not have the right to damn anyone to Hell
When the disciples were angry at the people for not accepting Jesus,
they asked the Lord, shall we call fire down from heaven?
And it came to pass, when the time was come
that He should be received up,
He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,
And sent messengers before His face: and they went,
and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for Him.
And they did not receive him,
because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem.
And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said,
Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven,
and consume them, even as Elias did?
But He turned, and rebuked them, and said,
Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.
And they went to another village. Luke 9:51-55
In other words, hands off judging their eternal destruction
That decision belongs to the Lord and only to the Lord
Just as we receive new mercies from the Lord,
let us in turn extend those mercies to others that we have in our lives,
friends or foes,
those who we feel deserve them and those who don’t,
Let God’s mercy rule,
His tireless mercy,
His bountiful mercy,
the newness of His mercy,
those mercies that are extended to us, new every morning
It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23