THIS IS HOW YOU WILL ACT AS TRUE CHILDREN OF YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “So sal julle optree soos ware kinders van julle Hemelse Vader”
Translator: Robin Barker
Before I start with this writing, just the following:
In my opinion, the way I answer this, will also apply to everyone.
If you feel aggrieved, or you have aggrieved (sinned against, hurt) someone else – yes, or if you have sinned no matter what kind.
Someone wrote to me asking, if you have sinned against someone and they have suffered a loss because of it, and you have asked our Lord for forgiveness, then everything is now “ok.”
Can you happily continue with your life?
What about the pain and suffering through which the other person is going as a result of your deeds?
Smiling..
It appears to me through this letter to me, that in this situation it is the other person who cannot forgive.
So, I want to almost say, that the so-called other person who is spoken of here, must pay close attention to what he/she is about to read.
However it may be –
Firstly about our sin, whether the sin was committed against me, or whether I committed the sin against someone else, or whether I had committed just an ordinary sin.
What I must remember and must always bear in mind is, that sin of any kind, is firstly an outrage, it is a sin against our Lord and therefore us, actually all of us, deserve, whether it is a so-called big or small sin, we deserve to spend eternity in hell.
ROM 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the Amplified Bible this verse reads as follows:
ROM 6:23 For the wages which sin pays is death; …
If anyone reading this who thinks you do not sin – because I have encountered such a so-called Christian, that twists the Word and who then announces that he no longer has any sins.
1 JOHN 1:8-10
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Then in ECCLESIASTES 7:20 we read:
ECL 7:20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.
Do you see?
It does not matter how we live our lives, but because sin has come into the world and we are human, we will always need to ask for forgiveness for the sin in our lives.
God knows this.
That is why Jesus left Heaven and from the stable in Bethlehem walked to Golgotha, because only a perfect sacrifice could save humanity from hell and the only perfect sacrifice in the universe was Jesus Christ.
Now if I sincerely pray, as Jesus taught us to pray:
MAT6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Then the many sins that I commit daily is forgiven by our Lord – but then I must also forgive the little sins by my fellow man, maybe long ago, which was committed against me.
Yes, even if it looks like my fellow man has sinned against me, no matter how great, it cannot even begin to compare to that, which I continuously commit against our perfect God Almighty, through my deeds and in my thoughts.
What I have just shared with you, Jesus Himself illustrated this very well through the parable of the unforgiving merciless servant.
The servant owed millions and the king wrote off his debt but the servant would not do the same for a person who only owed him a small amount of money.
You can read Jesus’s telling of the parable in MATTHEW 18:22-35.
At the end of the parable, which Jesus was telling, He closed off with the following words, which we must certainly take to heart:
Because remember, Jesus is talking to His disciples. In other words – with you and me.
MAT 18:35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Together with what you have just read, is it also good to remember what Jesus at another occasion said:
MAT 6:14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
MAT 6:15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
If you remember, it makes total sense what Jesus taught us in the ‘Lord’s Prayer’:
MAT 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Maybe someone will say:
“Sakkie it is sometimes not possible to do what you are saying.”
Yes, if you and I only were self-reliant, it would actually be impossible, but now we have our Lord’s Holy Spirit within us, in which we must trust.
EPH2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
You see –
If I do not give in to my desires and whims but keep focused on Jesus, then and only then it is possible.
EPH 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
How glorious that you and I, who have just read EPHESIANS 2:10, can look at the people around us, also those who have chosen to have an evil disposition towards us. It is glorious to be able to joyously shout out within our heart:
“It is possible to look at you with “compassion”, because:
GAL 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Why do I use the word “compassion”?
Because the word “compassion” in my eyes, is a gloriously all-encompassing word, which I should have in my heart when I look at my fellow man, no matter what role my adversary takes towards me.
The dictionary defines “compassion” amongst other as follows:
Compassion: sympathy, empathy, warm hearted, tender hearted, etc.
So, as I confess:
GAL2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Then I can look at other people, as Jesus wants us to look at other people, with “compassion”. Yes, let you and I strive towards being like Jesus in these matters.
Remember what He said at various occasions?
MAT 5:43-45
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
In closing I want to mention something about my actions towards the ‘other person’ that the author of the letter to me brought to my attention, who mistreated me and then also about my actions, if I find myself in the same situation as the person who wrote to me.
Firstly I must always be vigilant, that the wrong done to me by someone else, not negatively affect my behaviour, or rather the way I live my life.
For this reason – it is already a sin and in other words a violation against our Lord and secondly, I will not allow someone else to influence, for greater or lesser extent, the way I live my life.
Finally the Word tells us, very simply as for a child, what my actions should be.
If I am the person who has done the wrong and if I am the person who has been wronged:
LUKE 6:31 “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Is it not gloriously simple, as for a child, to understand?
If the other person does not want to do this, then it is the other person’s problem, not mine.
That which you have just read in LUKE 6:31, must be my creed, which my actions are based on, I must also remember in this regard, that our Lord tells me in His Word, as His child:
EPH 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
EPH 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Yes,
“Let us walk the walk, of the talk that we talk.”
Greetings,
Sakkie