Like Father, Like Son
READ: Ephesians 5:1-9
We have all seen the sight of a toddler trying to imitate his father pounding a hammer, throwing a ball, and raking leaves. The father is the son's role model and the son will imitate whatever his father does. This is what God is for us; he is the role model for all Christians.
Paul encourages this when he says, "Be imitators of God." Do as your Father has done for you. He urges us to be forgiving just as in Christ, God forgave us. People sin against each other daily. Paul urges Christians to live a life of love "just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Our Father's actions not only set a pattern and serve as a model, but they give sinners new hearts and new minds. It is God who creates the new man in Christians, who enables us to forgive a repentant Christian. We do not deserve the forgiveness we get from God. So, in love Christians should forgive others and not merely go through the motions, but forgive sincerely from the heart. Christians can do this because they are living a life of love. "We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)
We do not deserve the forgiveness of sins, because we sin daily and keep on sinning. But, God loves all and has taken all our sins away by sending his son to die for us. Because of that, we too forgive others when they have sinned against us.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT: How come God has decided to forgive a sinner like me? Why should we forgive those who sin against us? What sins has God forgiven you on a daily basis?
PRAYER SUGGESTIONS: Pary that God gives us the strength to forgive others. Pray that God forgives us for the sins that we commit on a daily basis. Pray that he protects us from the devil and keeps careful watch over us.