Unlimited: Start Again
Dec 30, 2019 2225
The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning (Lamentations 3:22–23, NLT).
Sometimes when couples argue, one partner will bring up a long litany of insults and hurts for which the other partner has been responsible in the past, even when they’ve supposedly been “forgiven.”
But God isn’t like that. God holds no grudges. When you fail him, and you repent and confess your sin, God doesn’t throw up in your face all the other times that you failed him. With God, you always get to start again, because “his mercies begin afresh each morning” (Lamentations 3:23). Now, that’s a reason to be excited about waking up every morning for the rest of your life!
Is there ever any end to the faithful love of the Lord? No! Is there a point at which he ceases to be merciful? Never!
That’s why Peter came to Jesus and asked him how many times he should forgive someone who had sinned against him. He suggested that seven times might be enough (Matthew 22:21). I think it would be rare for any of us to forgive someone seven times for the same thing against us!
But, Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:22, NIV).
Jesus is telling you to forgive like that because that’s how you have been forgiven.
– Eliezer Gonzalez
Eli’s Reflection: Have you ever had your past mistakes thrown in your face when you were supposed to have been forgiven? How did that feel? Why is it that we are sometimes tempted to think that God treats us like that?
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