Calendar

A FORGIVING HEART (V)
SATURDAY, MAY 8
Luke 7:36-50

1 Timothy 1:12-15

 

“…to whom little is forgiven,

the same loveth little.”

 

A FORGIVING HEART (V)
 
Progress (continued). Of course, we should not think of forgiveness as an onerous burden! It is in fact a joyful duty, because it rests on the great forgiveness of God which is revealed in the gospel. It is here that we may find help in cultivating a forgiving heart.
 
Luke records an illuminating incident, when the Lord was invited to the house of Simon the Pharisee. He was met in that house by a woman, who “stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment” (Luke 7:38). The Pharisee disapproved of what, to him, must have seemed like extravagant and unnecessary behaviour ‒ the woman was touching Jesus, and she was a sinner (v 39)!
 
But the Lord, in His wise and gentle way, rebuked Simon. He compared the reception He had received from the Pharisee, with what He had received from the sinner (vv 44-46), and pointed out the link between love and forgiveness (v 47). Ah, dear reader, it is not those who are puffed up with dreams of their own righteousness, who love God and obey Him gladly! It is those who confess themselves abject sinners, who rejoice that their many sins have been forgiven. To borrow the words of Newton’s famous hymn: where there is no admission of “a wretch like me,” there is no appreciation of “amazing grace.”
 
After all, it is not that there are some who are actually forgiven “little,” and who therefore only need to love “little” (v 47)! The fact is that all of us are in the position of this sinful woman, utterly depraved and lost, dead in trespasses and sins. Every one of us who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, has been forgiven much! If we would find help to perform the difficult duty of forgiving others, then, let us meditate on our own wretchedness, and on God’s gracious forgiveness. May we by such thoughts be stirred up to love Him truly, to worship Him gladly, and to serve Him humbly!
 
THOUGHT: Have I been greatly forgiven?
PRAYER: “Chosen not for good in me, wakened up from wrath to flee… Teach me, Lord, on earth to show, by my love, how much I owe.” (M’Cheyne)

Search