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2 Corinthians 5:12-21

Forgive

One of the things I hate about being a Pastor of a Church is that usually I am made to experience what I’m preaching.  If I’m preaching on patience, then things go really wrong and get very frustrating. God has fun with me. Someone jokingly said I should preach on being wealthy, ha ha.

Forgiving leads to reconciliation

To get my own back I’ve been preaching a sermon series in an area which I’ve already started to work on. I’ve made a remarkable discovery. For a long time I’ve been working hard to overcome my tendency to get angry - with my kids, with my wife, with my Church and with my God. As the intoxicating fumes of anger began to clear I suddenly saw that a lot of my anger was fuelled by unforgiveness.

Married for 17 years with four kids,  I realise that there is a huge pile of stuff I’ve been sweeping under the carpet. No wonder anger was an issue for me. Add in being a Pastor for nearly 10 years and all of a sudden there is a lot of forgiving ahead of me.

Suddenly it dawned on me why I clash so much with one of my kids; a lot of unforgiveness on my part. I started trying to forgive rather than get angry. I found that I was not as easily provoked. Sometimes I’ve been able to by-pass feeling angry or annoyed by forgiving straight away. One such case was when my son was careless (again) resulting in broken glass and a careful clean-up operation. I consciously forgave my child straight away, even before the noise of the broken glass had faded. I made everyone laugh by saying to my wife who was frowning, “Isn’t it great we can forgive, otherwise we could get really angry.” We all burst out laughing. But broken glass is a long way from a broken heart, or being stabbed in the back, or nearly having your whole career ruined. Why not join with us as I drag all of us at The Gap Presbyterian Church through this mad, mad journey of learning to forgive? the Rev

03 Forgive (It’s expensive)

Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:12-21

Exercises

• Discuss how and why forgiveness is essential to reconciliation; 2 Cor 5:12-21

• Discuss different situations where a person might either ‘cover’ or ‘confront.’

• Discuss why families (@ home&Church) struggle to forgive, give personal examples.

• Share what qualities you want to develop to enable reconciliation with family.

• Share in what way you will be a greater witness by forgiving and reconciling.

Prayer: Dear Lord, I rejoice in the reconciliation I have in Christ through the forgiveness of my sin. Help me forgive those who have sinned against me so that I can be reconciled to them. Forgive me for harbouring anger, resentment and unforgiveness when you have lavished me so richly with grace, mercy and love. May your grace teach me to be generous towards those who sin against me so that I might be the means by which they become reconciled to you. Amen

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