Today's devotional is written by Roy Summers, pastor of Manor Park Church Worcester
"Once Upon a Time in Iraq"
I have been watching a documentary series on BBC iPlayer called "Once Upon a Time in Iraq." It tells the story of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the invasion of the country by America in 2003.
Ordinary people, soldiers and journalists give their personal acounts of that terrible war: people who lost minds or innocence, eyes or limbs, people who lost family members.
I shan't easily forget some of their comments, "America destroyed our country and called it Democracy" was one. "I will never forgive America" was another.
Take that last one in, "I will never forgive America....."
Small and Large Offences
....and before we judge the one who says they can never forgive, ask yourself this question: if you lost a husband, a son a grandson plus 13 other members of your family - so sixteen members in total - to a war which has left your country in ruin, how easy would you find it to forgive?
We all find it hard to forgive large offences. We can perhaps easily forgive little sins, petty offences, but be honest, it is much harder to forgive big offences. By the grace of God we can work through them to the point of forgiveness.
How awe-inspiring then is the love, mercy and forgiveness of God!
Our memory verse for today - one which every Christian would benefit knowing off by heart - is this:
“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
God's Global Love
We should ponder for a moment the immense pile of offences that God's love forgives. All the sins of every believer over their whole life time. Sins of deliberate transgression, sins of accidental falling, sins of omission and sins of commission, sins of thought, sins of word and sins of action.
If we could now view all the sins of the world, through the eyes of a Holy God who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, the eyes of a God who hates sin with a pure and holy hatred, we may catch just a tiny incy wincy glimpse of the heap of offences God had to forgive. A tiny glimpse of the holy chasm that our sins have forged between us and Him.
"God so loved the world!" What awesome love!
"That he gave his one and only Son." John passes over the deep meaning of this "giving" which involved the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the greater spiritual suffering he passed through as his Father abandoned him when on the cross he was made sin who knew no sin.
Only believe
God has not only forgiven his people their sins he has made it so easy for them to come back to him. No hoops to jump through, no penance works to accomplish. Before they will forgive, some people expect certain things of the offender, but that's not how it is with God.
"Whoever believes in him." Simple sincere faith in Jesus Christ is all we need.
And the outcome of this faith is the opposite of what we deserve,
"Shall not perish but have everlasting life." Perish means hell. Everlasting life means heaven.
Summing it all Up
The mercy and love of God is awesome and glorious. The pure and holy God has gone out of his way to restore offenders to himself, to negate the destiny they deserve and to give them the future they do not.
What wonderful, praise-worthy love!
What a Gospel to tell to neighbours and nations!
And what a high standard of love and forgiveness to aspire to in our relationships with others. “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
A SONG FOR THE DAY
A simple song for today.
Hallelujah, My Father
For Giving Us Your Son
Sending Him Into The World
To Be Given Up For Men
Knowing We Would Bruise Him
And Smite Him From The Earth
Hallelujah, My Father
In His Death Is My Birth
Hallelujah, My Father
In His Life Is My Life
Tim Cullen
You can sing along HERE
A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Our loving Father in heaven,
You are the God of John 3.16. You are the one who so loved the world that you sent your dear Son to redeem us.
We stand in awe of such mercy when we know - and only just a little - what we are like. To think that you saw past all our sins and loved this sinful world is hard to take in.
We thank you for your mercy towards us.
Teach us we pray to forgive all those who sin against us, teach us to forgive as you forgave us.
We ask this in our Saviour's Name,
Amen.
Photo by Renee Fisher on Unsplash
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