Today's encouragement comes from Matthew 18:21, which says this:
"Then Peter came to [Jesus] and said, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?' "The best people in the world are the most forgiving ones. One cannot teach everything that is involved with forgiveness in a little Devotion like this—but this much will suffice: all relational problems are always ultimately issues of forgiveness (or lack thereof). This includes the problem all of us sinners have with God, (so long as we remain in a state of the flesh and rebellion).
If a professing Christian ask for forgiveness, it must be granted. The "forgiver" cannot say, "Let me see how righteous you are, and then I will consider for-giving, or not." Would we want God to deal with us in that way? How happy would we be with this prayer: "God, please forgive me, based on how well I will do at not sinning anymore"? In that scenario, we would all be condemned.
[Puritan quote of the day: "Now, as a man is broken off from sin by seeing and feeling it, and groaning under the power of it, so is a man broken from himself.” —Thomas Shepard, in, "The Sincere Convert"]
