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2 Samuel 12:1-14

Becoming generous

There is no cheap way of becoming generous. A birthday gift that has not cost the giver either in effort, thought or expense  is cheap. Gifts given to fulfil a social custom are cheap no matter what they actually cost. Real generosity costs.

Unforgiveness is like cholesterol

Interestingly, whenever real love is mentioned in the Bible it is often with reference to ‘giving.’ For example: “For God so loved the world that he gave is only begotten Son…” The gift God gave the world cost him personally. Had he given us the world or a star, it would have been no big deal since he can make such things out of thin air. However, he chose to rob heaven of its greatest treasure so that we might receive the most costly of gifts.

Christ came so that he might pay for all the wrongs things you have done and for all the right things you neglected to do. When he died on the cross he took in himself your punishment so that God could forgive you. By this I mean that God cancels your debt, so that you owe God nothing, you don’t even have to feel guilty. It is as though you have never done anything wrong and as though you had only done everything right.

God has been stunningly generous in forgiving you. Now He wants you to become generous. You have been made in God’s image which means it has always been God’s intention that you be like him. So God has forgiven you and now he wants you to forgive people in the same way he has forgiven you.

forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Col 3:13

When you forgive you become generous because you are releasing or cancelling a person’s debt. They don’t have to pay you back. This explains why we live in a world with ‘incessant provocation.’ It is so you can have an opportunity to increasingly become generous as you learn to forgive. the Rev

02 Forgive (It’s expensive)

Exercises

• Why would paying God back be attractive and in what ways is Ps 51 encouraging?

• Why is it expensive for God to forgive and how is this encouraging?

• Using Matthew 18:21-35 explain forgiveness and discuss its importance.

• Using Col 3:12-15 explore what heart attitude you want to develop, give examples.

• Share what action you will take to forgive and be forgiven.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for generously forgiving my sin; for washing me clean and for paying my debt. Forgive me for underestimating the personal cost you paid to forgive me, that Jesus died in my place. Forgive me for my lack of generosity towards people, that I have expected people to pay me back when you have forgiven me so much. Help me to be willing to forgive both big and small debts while also seeking the forgiveness of those I am indebted to, Amen.  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it