He had been hurt by
his wife. In the process, he forgave her
and made a profound statement: “We are never closer to God than when we forgive.”
Do we ever think
about missing the presence of God when we fail or even refuse to forgive?
We are brought into
our relationship with God through the power of forgiveness. The cross marks the place of our forgiveness
that Christ gave His life for.
How many things do we
miss out on when we fail to forgive? The greatest of all things we miss is the presence of God. The life of Joseph is recorded in the book of Genesis. Forgiveness is woven into the fabric of the story:
The greatest legacy
Jacob left his son was telling Joseph to forgive. At the end of the day it is not how great the
wrong is against us but about whether or not we forgive. The brothers separated Joseph from
his father and family for a lifetime when they threw him in a pit to die. Yet . . .
Joseph received and accepted the legacy of forgiveness speaking heart to heart . . . forgiving his brothers . . . providing and protecting
them and their children.
The legacy of forgiveness
transforms generation after generation. Forgiveness
means that we forgive everything . . . every facet of the messes that people
make . . . the difficulties and challenges that occur when people wrong us . .
. and the hurt and harm that occurs.
Make the next 56 days
of summer count.
Create a legacy of
forgiveness.
Forgive.
Know God through the
power of forgiveness.
Learning
with you to KICK START the day in forgiveness,
Pastor
Kerrie
(written
by Kerrie Palmer © 2010 All Rights Reserved)
interactstudies/
~ kpalmer@hillchurch.com ~Church on the Hill~700 N. Hill Rd.~McMinnville, OR
97128~503.472.8476 ~www.hillchurch.com~Archives & Daily Subscription: go to
http://kickstarttoday.blogspot.com/