I am participating in
journaling about my experiences in reading Live
Second: 365 Ways to Make Jesus First By Doug Bender. I will be blogging through four days
about the different things I have learned to help promote this life changing
book. The book is available for purchase.
If you buy the book
during the week of December 9th-15th make sure you email
your receipt to the email address promo@iamsecond.com. They want to give you some special bonuses!
For all the full
details check out:
Week 7: Day 2: Release
This day consisted of
reading Matthew 18:21-35 in the Bible. The concepts presented in this passage
were Peter asking Jesus how many times we are to forgive our brother who has
wronged us. Peter suggested seven as the ultimate number we are suppose to
forgive someone. Jesus replied, “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22). Jesus
then described a parable of a debtor who owned the king millions of dollars.
The master ordered to sell him and his wife, children, and everything he had
left. The man pleaded with his master not to do that. The master forgave him
and cancelled his debts.
When he left the masters
face, he turned right around and found a servant who owned him a few thousand
dollars. He chose to not forgive the servant who owned him money and he was
eventually put into jail and tortured. The moral of the story was he was forgiven
for his debt but he couldn’t forgive someone else’s debt. And Jesus warned that
if we don’t forgive others the heavenly Father will do the same thing to you.
Let’s be honest, who hasn’t
had to make the choice to forgive someone who has hurt and let them down.
Bitterness is easy to allow to poison our very souls. I will admit I have been
there and I was stubborn and determined that it was out of my control and power
to forgive people that have hurt me.
How many relationships
have ended because someone couldn’t forgive? MANY!
Major offences can come
occur when the person we love walks away, we’re cheated on, people borrow money
and don’t pay us back when they say they would, people criticize us and call us
names, we’re fired or laid off, done wrong in a church, and a number of other
things. Others may struggle with forgiving the small offences that can still wreak
our world if we let it like our children spilling liquids or food, or breaking glass
on the floor, our spouses leaving the toilet seat up (sorry men), the lawn didn’t
get mow on time, the house isn’t clean, or anything else you can think of. But
is it worth it holding on to anger?
Bitterness blocks us from
ever finding love again whether in friendship or a relationship. Freedom only comes
when we chose to release the hurt and forgive, no matter how painful it might
be. Perfection doesn’t exist and we must know we can’t demand ourselves or
others to be perfect all the time. We will all make mistakes and offend others
at some point.
The question that we must
ask ourselves is, “How many times have I personally hurt someone?” We must
remember that Jesus forgives us every single time we confess our sins and hurts!
“I received an advance copy of Live Second: 365
Ways to Make Jesus First for free for this review.”
If you would like
to purchase a copy of Live Second,
check it out on Amazon.com:
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