Good morning!
"Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs."
- 2 Corinthians 2:10-11
Many times I think we assume Satan will attack us through our circumstances or through internal struggles and fears. That is certainly true, but there is a much more devious and destructive plan of attack he has that Paul identifies in these verses.
Follow Paul's logic with me...
1. Paul seeks to forgive because…
2. He does not want to be outwitted by Satan since…
3. He is not ignorant of Satan's plans.
The conclusion I draw is that one of Satan's schemes to defeat the Church is to sow a spirit of unforgiveness in our hearts toward one another. This is an extremely crippling attack on the Church because it reaps disunity and divisiveness.
Think about it: If we do not forgive others when we have been wronged then we will nurse those hurts until they infect our spirit with a cancerous bitterness. We will distrust others; isolate ourselves; insulate ourselves. The Christian life will become cynical and viewed as merely an individual affair instead of a community of faith. The end result is a church that is defeated from within because the life-giving grace of the Gospel has been dammed up at the source.
We must not be ignorant of this strategy. That means that every little insult or unintentional wrong has the potential to turn into a unity-killing missile aimed right at your heart.
Are you on the lookout for this prowling lion (1 Peter 5:8) who would destroy the work of the Spirit through unforgiving hearts?
The only weapon of defense against him is the Gospel. In Christ not only are we completely forgiven by God but we also have Christ's capacity to forgive others as well.
Consider the power of seeing forgiveness firsthand in the account of the centurion at the cross of Jesus who was most likely converted to Christ after having watched Him die ("Truly this man was the Son of God!" Mark 15:39). But it was the way Jesus died that affected him. Part of his amazement was probably due to Jesus uttering "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Even in the middle of His greatest agony and greatest humiliation, Jesus was still praying for forgiveness for those who rejected Him and killed Him.
That same spirit of forgiveness is within us as we are in Christ, so that even as we are wronged and insulted, we are still commanded to forgive as we have been forgiven. Let us access that most powerful aspect of the Good News today, and like Paul, let us us seek to forgive others that we would not be outwitted by Satan. We are not ignorant of his design. Let us seek Gospel wisdom in magnifying the grace of Christ in forgiving others.
May the Lord bless you richly in Christ today!!!
Blessings!
Pastor Chris
No comments:
Post a Comment