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I Don't Want To Forgive |
Next Chapter:
I'm Depressed |
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Bruce Marchiano played the part of Jesus in the movie “The Gospel According
to Matthew.” In his book In the Footsteps of Jesus
11, Bruce describes how he
prepared for the part. He kept asking himself, “What is it that lies at the
root of who he is?” After prayer and research, Bruce found the answer, Jesus
was “on a mission of redemptive love.” This was the bottom line of all Jesus
came for and all he did. In the following scripture we read this scene in
Luke where the disciples are angry with a whole town. They had forgotten
Jesus’ mission. They were ready to destroy instead of love. Yet Jesus never
forgot who He was or why He was there—“to save them.” He could forgive the
town’s people because He loved them.
Often it is the people we love most who hurt us the most. To ease our own
pain, we want to hurt them back. But Jesus says “NO! Forgive them and
continue to love them as I do.”
Sometimes we have trouble loving ourselves. We make dumb mistakes or
aren’t as pretty or handsome or smart as we think we should be. Again Jesus
says “NO! Forgive yourself and love yourself as I do.”
What lies at the root of who you are?
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As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven,
Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who
went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people
there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this, they
asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”
But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and he said, “You do not know what kind
of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's
lives, but to save them.” And they went to another village. (Luke 9:51–56,
NIV) |
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Lord Jesus, starting today let me see and act toward everyone I come into
contact with through your filter of redemptive love. Amen |
Questions for consideration...
- What does the phrase "mission of redemptive love" mean to me?
- Who are the people in my life I truly love?
- Do any of these people need my forgiveness?
- Can I truly love someone and not forgive them?
- If I can't forgive them right now, am I willing to ask God to make me
willing?
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