Ever
hear someone say "who are you to judge me"? I know I have too many
times to count. Well there is a difference between loving judgement and
no-loving judgement. Before I go any further read this verse:
Luke 17:3
3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
Hmmm did you see that, "If your brother sins, rebuke him", a judgement must be made to determine if a brother has sinned! How do we judge? By the Word of God. Now let me be clear when we judge we must do it in love. But we also must stand on the Word and not tolerate sin. We are not to be tolerant of sin. We are to be loving!
We also need to note forgiveness. If they repent we forgive, case closed! If they do not we keep loving them til they do. So how many times do we do this before we give up? Here is the answer:
Luke 17:4
4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
Now if you are like me after about five times I would say forget it and give up on them but that is not what God says or has done with us. God says continue to forgive, that's love! Seven represents a complete number in the bible so this number represents you to continue to forgive...really there is no set number!
Remember how many times God has judged you and forgiven you sin because He loves you, that should be a good teaching point for us! We must imitate Christ and He judges and forgives, and even lays down his life for us sinners! Give Jesus some praise!
Luke 17:3 started out by saying "Pay attention to yourselves"!!! May we make sure the sin in our own life is taken care of, and then help others with theirs out of love!
Tom
Luke 17:3
3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
Hmmm did you see that, "If your brother sins, rebuke him", a judgement must be made to determine if a brother has sinned! How do we judge? By the Word of God. Now let me be clear when we judge we must do it in love. But we also must stand on the Word and not tolerate sin. We are not to be tolerant of sin. We are to be loving!
We also need to note forgiveness. If they repent we forgive, case closed! If they do not we keep loving them til they do. So how many times do we do this before we give up? Here is the answer:
Luke 17:4
4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
Now if you are like me after about five times I would say forget it and give up on them but that is not what God says or has done with us. God says continue to forgive, that's love! Seven represents a complete number in the bible so this number represents you to continue to forgive...really there is no set number!
Remember how many times God has judged you and forgiven you sin because He loves you, that should be a good teaching point for us! We must imitate Christ and He judges and forgives, and even lays down his life for us sinners! Give Jesus some praise!
Luke 17:3 started out by saying "Pay attention to yourselves"!!! May we make sure the sin in our own life is taken care of, and then help others with theirs out of love!
Tom
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