Forgiveness

Reflections On God’s Providence

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“Joseph named his second son Ephraim, for he said, “God has made me fruitful in this land of my grief.”” Genesis‬ ‭41‬:‭52‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This beautiful verse is loaded with truth about the providence and goodness of God in the life of Joseph. God was with Jospeh through all the pain and grief he experienced in betrayal by family, injustice being sold to slavery, false accusation by Potiphar’s wife, injustice again due to false accusations, yet the Lord was with Joseph. God’s presence was with Joseph in his pain and God produced something good and beautiful in and through Joseph’s life. In the story of God told through Genesis we see the faithfulness, goodness and providence of God.

Through this story we are to be reminded that we can trust God with our lives as the faithful one who fulfills His promises & purposes for our lives. And we can forgive those who have wronged us, as we consider God’s goodness & favor towards us (Colossians 1:13-14, 3:13).

“Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.”
Psalms‬ ‭27‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

• Reflect on God’s gracious heart for you and identify where you have seen His goodness working towards you & for you as you listen to the song below titled Canvas & Clay.

• What is one thing you need from Him right now? Ask Him for it and expect Him to answer.

The Gospel of Peace in Marriage

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20130422-122224.jpgThe Gospel of Jesus Christ should influence every relationship and area of the Christian’s life, especially the marriage of believers. When one turns from their sinful, selfish ways and puts trust in Christ they find great peace (Romans 5:1), through the “Gospel of Peace”. Finding peace with God and no longer being His enemy effects the whole disposition of a person. And this peace carries over into every other relationship, especially the marriage relationship. The Gospel of Peace brings peace in our relationship with God and others by dealing with the problem of sin.

Sin & selfishness create enmity and turmoil in relationships (Romans 8:7, James 4:1-4) and the Gospel of Peace is the means of finding reconcilation. The Scripture says “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10 ESV). Think about how God acted toward you and I while we were enemies of God. He displayed love and kindness to us when we were disobedient, unthankful, unloving and unfaithful to Him. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV). Through the sacrificial death of Christ you and I can be forgiven of our offenses and find peace with God.

This mercy & forgiveness that we have experienced through the gospel should also be extended to our spouses. The Apostle Paul wrote the Colossians and said bear “with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Colossians 3:13 ESV). Notice how Paul points to God forgiving you as the driving motivation behind your extension of forgiveness to others. Freely giving the forgiveness we ourselves have received is one way to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15 ESV). For when we withhold forgiveness from others there is deep distress and turmoil (Matthew 18:35). The gospel impacts marriage relationships bringing peace and reconcilation to the most broken and struggling marriages. If spouses followed the example of Christ then there would not be divorce, and much pain, stress and sorrow would be avoided.

There is a precious married couple that my wife and I are mentoring. They recently turned to Christ and have displayed beautiful fruits of believing and embracing the gospel. Their marriage relationship is being gloriously restored by the gospel. One of them recently told the other “we don’t fight like we used to” and the other responded saying “this is how it’s supposed to be”. There should be peace in every marriage that is truly gospel-centered.

Believe and embrace the truth of the Gospel and allow it to shape your marriage into a glorious reflection of the relationship between Christ and the Church. This is what God designed marriage to be, namely to display His glory. But every married couple has sinned and fallen short of displaying the glory of God in their marriage. God, however, gives grace through the gospel and by His grace He can make your marriage glorious. His strength fits perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).

May God give grace & peace to you and your marriage.

The Gospel & Our Worship

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How does or should the gospel influence our worship?

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The gospel powerfully transforms selfish broken sinners into passionate worshippers of the living God. The forgiveness that a person experiences through the gospel leads to a deep gratitude & affection towards the God of all grace . This certainly is true of the sinful woman in Luke 7. This woman has been forgiven by the Lord of much sinfulness and she loved much in return. The gospel’s impact on her lead her to an extravagant expression of worship. She affectionately & unreservedly poured out her life savings on Jesus. She valued Jesus more than any earthly treasure and her actions displayed that.
Through the gospel of Jesus Christ people experience not only forgiveness of sins but a removal of the guilt of that sin. God deeply cleanses the guilt of sin through the powerful blood of Jesus “so that we can worship the living God” (Hebrews 9:14 NLT). Oh what a privilege & joy it is to be forgiven and cleaned
so that we might worship God. This is what David expressed in Psalm 32 after experiencing the forgiveness from God. David was celebrating gospel truth that fueled his worship of God. The Apostle Paul in explaining the gospel in the book of Romans quotes David from Psalm 32, to highlight the gospel truth of forgiveness of sin through faith. David is one of the greatest worshippers of the Old Testament and the gospel truth which fueled his worship ought to fuel our worship much more. Much more has been revealed and given to us through the new covenant. We have a new and living way to approach God, through the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:20). We can come to God boldly with a clear conscience because of the blood of Christ (Hebrews 4:16, 10:19, 22).
This is one way the gospel influences our worship.