SEP 22

Colossians 4:10
Memorise Isaiah 43:25
“…receive him…”

HAVE YOU TRULY FORGIVEN THOSE YOU SAY YOU HAVE FORGIVEN?

Colossians 4:10 continues with “…and Marcus, sister’s son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him).” Marcus is another name for John Mark, who is a relative of Barnabas, Paul’s close friend and companion. Paul and Barnabas took John Mark on their first missionary journey, but the latter left them in Perga (capital of Pamphylia) to return to Jerusalem instead of continuing with the work (Acts 13:13). When the time came to begin the second missionary journey, Barnabas wanted again to take John Mark, but Paul disagreed, for he remembered John Mark’s earlier reversal. The resulting conflict was so sharp that Paul and Barnabas separated. However, in the years that followed, John Mark proved to be true to Christ after all, and was later reconciled to Paul, so Paul here commended him to the Colossians. Since Perga was only 100 odd miles away from Colossae, the Colossians had most likely heard of John Mark’s earlier defection, so Paul gave specific instructions: if he comes, receive him (ie. don’t reject him). Later, Paul commends John Mark for being profitable to him in his ministry (2 Timothy 4:11). This is true forgiveness: not only has Paul forgiven John Mark for forsaking the ministry earlier, but he has forgotten it as well, for he made no mention at all of it, but simply exhorted them to receive him. Note that forgetting it does not mean Paul has somehow erased his own memory banks about the incident, but it simply means that Paul does not hold it any more against John Mark. In the same way, Christ will not remember our sins any longer once they have been forgiven (Isaiah 43:25).

Do you truly forgive and forget? There was a past teen that had let me down badly years ago while he was still in Teens. He subsequently apologized to me, and I had verbally forgiven him. Recently, he was asked by a brother to serve in another ministry, and I found I had great trouble in my mind trying not to consider his past mistake years ago. This showed that I forgave, but I did not forget. Thankfully I did not mention it to that other brother, so it did not affect the decision to use that past teen in the ministry or not. However, I was ashamed of myself that in spite of it being so many years ago, I still held the mistake against this brother. Dear teen, I pray that for those you have forgiven for their wrongdoing against you, you do not hold this wrongdoing against them any longer.

Thought: What happens if I do not forget?
Prayer: May I always forgive and forget, as Christ has done so to me.