Sweet Advice

"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Colossians 3:13

As you may know by now, I, from time to time, like to break down verses word by word or phrase by phrase. This passage of encouragement once again lends itself to that type of a devotional. Hopefully this will satisfy each of you with a morsel of spiritual nutrition that you need in your hearts.

'Bear'.... Shoulder or endure, put up with, share the burden without taking on the load (do it without being a bear about it).
'With each other'.... Not alone, no lone rangers, together, we are a team.
'And forgive'.... "Let it go, let God have it, He paid for it and can handle it better than we, in order to obey Him at all we must forgive.
'Whatever grievances'.... Everyone of them, no matter how hurtful, deep or egregious, the pain of grief will only subside when we do it regardless of what has happened.
'You may have'.... Only you and He know, so be honest (one has come to me right now that I must admit I have been harboring and shouldn't have).
'Against one another'.... We are not each other's enemies, we should love one another, the enemy perpetuates this unforgiveness, God wants us to let go of the past and press on.
'Forgive as the Lord forgave you'.... Wow! Pure and simple, unconditionally, totally, completely, buried in the deepest sea, as far as the east is from the west, that is how He forgives.

This is an ongoing process and we must keep working through these steps based on these principles over and over again. With every remembrance of a past grievance or hurt, forgive again. The thing that came to my mind earlier was old stuff, rising up to challenge my joy and my faith anew. Forgiven again. This is why we keep the reminder of the cross around and celebrate Communion regularly and stay accountable to each other. Praise God for His grace and mercy. May I see everyone in the reflective light of my own forgiveness.

In Him and at peace just now,
Pastor Fred

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