{"id":28767,"date":"2022-06-15T18:26:14","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T22:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=28767"},"modified":"2022-06-15T18:26:41","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T22:26:41","slug":"worship-wednesday-we-who-are-forgiven-forgive-david-crowder-matthew-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=28767","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – We Who Are Forgiven ….Forgive – David Crowder & Matthew West"},"content":{"rendered":"

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[Revisiting Worship Wednesday – The Forgiven Forgive – David Crowder & Matthew West<\/em> – Deb Mills<\/a> – Checking my heart.]<\/p>\n

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!<\/span> Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation<\/strong>.<\/span> That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. <\/span><\/em>Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ<\/strong>, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ\u2019s behalf, \u201cBe reconciled to God.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/em> He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.<\/em>\u00a0 <\/strong>– \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Corinthians 5:17-21<\/a>
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\u201cForgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Matthew 6:12<\/a><\/p>\n

Early in Jesus\u2019 earthly ministry, he preached out on a hillside to a great throng of people. This Sermon on the Mount<\/em><\/a> set in motion the public teaching of Christ. In it, he focused on the hearts of men and women rather than on the religious law.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of this sermon, he taught those in hearing how to pray. Within this beautiful prayer is the verse above:<\/p>\n

\u201cForgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this short verse, we hear both our need for God\u2019s forgiveness as well as our need to forgive others.<\/p>\n

To know the life-giving and eternity-saving forgiveness of Christ, we need to reckon with our own sinfulness. Yet, we are blinded to our need for Him by our disposition toward holding others’ sins against them. We can’t see our own need for forgiveness because our eyes, minds, and hearts are full of contempt for those we think need ours.<\/p>\n

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What a terrible and terrifying cost – to miss Jesus because we can’t forgive someone else. God have mercy!\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This side of Heaven, we reckon with the presence of sin in our hearts and in that of others. It is a part of life in this fallen world. Just as we seek God’s face daily in confession and repentance, rejoicing in forgiveness, we have His grace and power to do the same for those around us.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: C. S. Lewis, AZ Quotes<\/a><\/p>\n

Forgiveness…such a lovely experience, for sure. We LOVE being forgiven. Forgiving others is the tricky part.\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: C. S. Lewis, Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

All my life, I have heard how essential it is to forgive:<\/p>\n