Text: Is.33:22&24).
“…For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us…the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.”
Theme: “God’s Love!”
Soon after the Truth and Reconciliation Commision had concluded its assignment, Archbishop Desmond Tutu published a book, “No Future Without Forgiveness.” The book emphasises the need of forgiveness for healing and reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa.
We reap what we sow – what in most Eastern religions is called “the law of karma.”
Indeed, we attract what we radiate. After the flood, God decided not to harm the earth again because of humans, “though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood”(Gen.8:21).
God chose the path of forgiveness as the only way by which we can be reconciled to him.
What he has done for us is what he expects us to do to others.
To this end Paul speaks to us through the Corinthians “If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him…Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”(2 Cor.2:5-11).
The Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnation of the Father, taught us the great lesson of forgiveness in the story of the woman accused of adultery. “…Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir,’ she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.'”(Jn.8:1-11).
We are, however, forgiven and enjoined to “go and sin no more.”
Sunday prayer: Holy Spirit, prompt us daily to eschew the sins for which we have been forgiven. Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.
13/07/2025.
[Supporting Song:👇🏿].
Evening Prayer
1 If I have wounded any soul today,
If I have caused one foot to go astray,
If I have walked in my own willful way,
Dear Lord, forgive!
2 If I have uttered idle words or vain,
If I have turned aside from want or pain,
Lest I offend some other through the strain,
Dear Lord, forgive!
3 If I have been perverse, or hard, or cold,
If I have longed for shelter in the fold,
When thou hast given me some fort to hold,
Dear Lord, forgive!
4 Forgive the sins I have confessed to thee;
Forgive the secret sins I do not see;
O guide me, love me, and my keeper be.
Dear Lord, Amen.