Gospel - Centered Forgiveness
Tim Melton
Ephesians 4:31-32
Several years ago we offered counseling booklets here at the church on different topics and week after week the booklets that were taken the most were those booklets that counseled people on how to forgive others. Today we would like to focus on this same topic that many of us may need and see how the gospel frees us to forgive others.
Several years ago, I was part of a Bible study group that met every Friday at a port just north of Miami, Florida in the United States. It was made up of different people from different countries who worked on a ship that came into the port every week. I remember one night, one gentleman in the group who worked on a cruise ship, told this story as we talked about forgiveness. He said that when he was about 10 years old, he was out with some other boys. At one point they were all getting in the back of a small truck. As the truck was pulling away this man, who was telling the story, was running to get into the truck. It was moving fast, and he was running hard to keep up. He got his hands on the back of the truck, but it was now going faster than he could run. He had to jump in quickly or he was going to get hurt. It was at this point that another one of the bigger boys, who was already in the truck, pried this man's fingers off the truck and he fell, face first hard onto the street and all the other boys laughed as the truck drove away. This man in our Bible study group remembered how this root of bitterness began to grow up inside of him (Hebrews 12:15) against this other boy for years, until finally he was big enough and strong enough to fight him and make him pay for what he had done.
Can you relate to this man's pain, anger and humiliation? Have you ever been sinned against, refused to forgive and then been overcome with bitterness? Maybe you are refusing to forgive your parents, a sibling, a former coworker, your neighbor, or you hold a grudge against a who ...
Tim Melton
Ephesians 4:31-32
Several years ago we offered counseling booklets here at the church on different topics and week after week the booklets that were taken the most were those booklets that counseled people on how to forgive others. Today we would like to focus on this same topic that many of us may need and see how the gospel frees us to forgive others.
Several years ago, I was part of a Bible study group that met every Friday at a port just north of Miami, Florida in the United States. It was made up of different people from different countries who worked on a ship that came into the port every week. I remember one night, one gentleman in the group who worked on a cruise ship, told this story as we talked about forgiveness. He said that when he was about 10 years old, he was out with some other boys. At one point they were all getting in the back of a small truck. As the truck was pulling away this man, who was telling the story, was running to get into the truck. It was moving fast, and he was running hard to keep up. He got his hands on the back of the truck, but it was now going faster than he could run. He had to jump in quickly or he was going to get hurt. It was at this point that another one of the bigger boys, who was already in the truck, pried this man's fingers off the truck and he fell, face first hard onto the street and all the other boys laughed as the truck drove away. This man in our Bible study group remembered how this root of bitterness began to grow up inside of him (Hebrews 12:15) against this other boy for years, until finally he was big enough and strong enough to fight him and make him pay for what he had done.
Can you relate to this man's pain, anger and humiliation? Have you ever been sinned against, refused to forgive and then been overcome with bitterness? Maybe you are refusing to forgive your parents, a sibling, a former coworker, your neighbor, or you hold a grudge against a who ...
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