FORGIVE AND FORGET

                                                          By Luther Blackmon

An old Negro slave had defied his master’s order not to read the Bible and was being flogged for it. As the whip cut into his flesh his owner taunted him with: "What can your Bible do for you now, boy?" "It can teach me to forgive master," he replied.

It is sometimes more difficult to forget than to remember. But we must learn to forget. "We do not mean literally to forget, but to cease to nurse a grudge, to put the thing behind us, never to be brought up again, no matter what happens in the future.

We need to forget our past failures. Don’t cry over spilt milk; get up and milk the cow again. When you have tried something and failed, learn a lesson from your failure and then forget it.

Some people can never get over a slight by someone, or a wrong done them. The penitentiary is full of people who could not forget a real or imagined wrong, either by an individual or society as a whole. A man told me that one of the reasons he had never become a Christian was that he could not forgive a wrong done him. One of the first recorded statements of the Lord was: "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:15) We had better remember that no unforgiving person can have fellowship with a forgiving God.

When Abraham Lincoln was President, he was bitterly criticized by Edward McMasters Stanton. He called Lincoln a "low cunning clown," the "original gorilla." Stanton was a Democrat, but after the attack on Ft. Sumter, Lincoln appointed him Secretary of War, because Stanton was a loyal man and qualified for the job, and because Lincoln was more concerned for the country than for Stanton’s opinion of him. When Mr. Stanton looked into the rugged and homely face of Lincoln after he was killed, he remarked in subdued tones of respect, "There lies the greatest leader this country has ever known." Would it not be nice if Christians would put the interest of the Lord’s work and His church before their own petty little injuries? We could use a lot of real men and women who have the spirit of Lincoln with regard to this matter.

A little girl was asked to define forgiveness. She said in substance, "I don’t know the definition, but it is like this: when you crush a rose, the only resistance it offers is a sweet fragrance."

Paul might have remembered the ill treatment he received at Philippi, but instead he said: "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mind for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." (Philippians 1:3-4)

Eagerly Waiting for Jesus

By Jeff Curtis

If our faith is what it should be, then we should eagerly anticipate the coming of the Lord a second time. Preaching should emphasize the second coming and depict the joy it will bring to us. We should anticipate that moment with gladness.

It’s difficult for those who are young and enjoying life to imagine wanting to leave this world due to its’ suffering. World events such as war, disease, terrorism and natural disasters may shock us into reality as we grow older and experience more of life. Enemies are all around us. Many, following Satan’s desire instead of God’s, seek to destroy Christianity. We constantly face uncertainties with regard to the economy, the health, happiness, and faithfulness of our children and grandchildren; personal success in life, and any number of other concerns. We are not to be discouraged by any of these matters because Christ is coming to make everything right. We don’t need to take personal vengeance or retaliate against those who have wronged us, for God is our Vindicator (Romans 12:18-21). Vengeance is the Lord’s; let Him take care of it. To take revenge is to be overcome by evil ourselves. Eagerly anticipating the coming of Jesus as the great problem-solver for all of earth’s difficulties.

Guard Every Step

by Andy Sochor

Moses was God’s faithful servant who led the Israelites out of Egypt. He dealt with opposition from Pharaoh, grumbling by the people, and difficulties of the journey.

Yet Moses was not perfect. When God told him to “speak to the rock…that it may yield its water” for the congregation (Numbers 20:8), Moses instead struck the rock with his rod and took credit for providing water for them (Numbers 20:9-11).

Because of this misstep, God told Moses that he would not bring the Israelites into the promised land (Numbers 20:12). We might think this was unfair. Surely, we can sympathize with Moses as he had to deal with all of the stress and frustration of leading the Israelites through the wilderness. But none of that changed God’s decision.

We need to be careful about what we do. We could bring irreparable harm by some misdeed. In a moment of weakness, we could do something that has long-reaching negative consequences –for ourselves and others. Because of this, we must always be on the alert.

Meditate on these things:

Proverbs 19:13

A foolish son is the ruin of his father, and the contentions of a wife are a continual dripping.