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The Ground of Forgiveness, September 18
The Lord is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
Proverbs 15:29
.
We ourselves owe everything to God’s free grace. Grace in the covenant
ordained our adoption. Grace in the Saviour effected our redemption, our regen-
eration, and our exaltation to heirship with Christ. Let this grace be revealed to
others.
Give the erring one no occasion of discouragement. Suffer not a Pharisaical
hardness to come in and hurt your brother. Let no bitter sneer rise in mind or heart.
Let no tinge of scorn be manifest in the voice. If you speak a word of your own, if
you take an attitude of indifference, or show suspicion or distrust, it may prove the
ruin of a soul. He needs a brother with the Elder Brother’s heart of sympathy to
touch his heart of humanity. Let him feel the strong clasp of a sympathizing hand,
and hear the whisper, Let us pray. God will give a rich experience to you both.
Prayer unites us with one another and with God. Prayer brings Jesus to our
side, and gives to the fainting, perplexed soul new strength to overcome the world,
the flesh, and the devil. Prayer turns aside the attacks of Satan.
When one turns away from human imperfections to behold Jesus, a divine
transformation takes place in the character. The Spirit of Christ working upon
the heart conforms it to His image. Then let it be your effort to lift up Jesus. Let
the mind’s eye be directed to “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world” (
John 1:29
). And as you engage in this work, remember that “he which
converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and
shall hide a multitude of sins” (
James 5:20
).
“But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses” (
Matthew 6:15
). Nothing can justify an unforgiving spirit. He
who is unmerciful toward others shows that he himself is not a partaker of God’s
pardoning grace. In God’s forgiveness the heart of the erring one is drawn close
to the great heart of Infinite Love. The tide of divine compassion flows into the
sinner’s soul, and from him to the souls of others. The tenderness and mercy that
Christ has revealed in His own precious life will be seen in those who become
sharers of His grace....
We are not forgiven
because
we forgive, but
as
we forgive. The ground of all
forgiveness is found in the unmerited love of God; but by our attitude toward others
we show whether we have made that love our own.—
Christ’s Object Lessons, 250,
251
.
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