Let All Things Be Done In Love

The ability to forgive somebody else is dependent upon how much you know you’ve been forgiven. Here was a smug self-righteous Pharisee who thought he was so righteous and so good and so wonderful that he didn’t even need forgiveness. He didn’t even talk to Jesus like that woman did. He wasn’t interested in washing Jesus’s feet. He wasn’t interested in serving Jesus in the way she did. All he wanted was a theological discussion to find out if this guy was who he was cracked up to be. And from the very beginning he didn’t believe it anyway because he said, ah, if he was a prophet he wouldn’t mess with this woman.

His own because he had no sense of forgiveness in his own life, because he had no need, he had no sense of sin. And the point is this, people, that man should have realised that if those two sinners were matched side by side, he was the greater one. Because it is the ultimate sin to say, I don’t need God, it’s the ultimate sin. And so I say to you that dependent upon the depth of your own sense of forgiveness will be your ability to forgive somebody else. And you love little because you sense God’s love little.

You love much because you sense much love in your forgiveness. A beautiful story. Here is a broken sinner who knew she desperately needed forgiveness and she would need much forgiveness. And on the basis of much forgiveness, there was much love. Sometimes I think those are the kind of people that ought to populate the church more than the others. We don’t need people who think they don’t need anything. We don’t need people who already think they’re okay. I remember the story Robert Falconer told, and he was sitting in a group of poor destitute people, including people of the street, prostitutes and evil people.

And he was telling them this story. And he was trying to show them that Jesus would forgive them. And he was reading to them. And his biographer says, someone sobbed out loud. And he looked and it was a young, slender girl with a face disfigured by smallpox. And except for a tearful look at war, it was poor and expressionless. Falconer said something gentle to her. And then she said, will he ever come again, sobbing? Who? Said Falconer. Oh, him, Jesus Christ, the one who forgave the woman. I have heard tell, I think, that he will come again.

Why do you ask? Said Falconer. Because, she said with a fresh burst of tears, which rendered the rest of her words unintelligible. And then she recovered herself in a few moments. And as if finishing her sentence, she put her hand up to her poor, thin, colorless hair and said, sir, can’t he wait a little while? My hair ain’t long enough to wipe his feet. She loved much because she was loved much. And so what is going on here in Ephesians, now you can look back at it, is our Lord is saying this, God loved us and forgave us.

And that’s the way we are to be with each other. No bitterness, no anger, no wrath, nothing. And in great measure, beloved, your ability to forgive is absolutely dependent on your ability to love. And you will love and forgive little if you see yourself forgiven little. If you see yourself as a vile, broken sinner, poor and destitute, and desperate, forgiven much, then you will forgive much. That’s it, people. Measure your love. You love because you’ve been forgiven much, and you love, and that causes you to forgive others much. So we are, in this sense, to be like God, and the Spirit can do it.

You might say, like Zophar said, oh, to be like God, can’t thou by searching find out God, his ways are past finding out, how can we be like God? It’s impossible. If we take our world’s definition, and we think God is a benign Santa Claus, maybe we have a shot at it. But if we take the Bible definition, we must say with Peter, depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man. We must say with John, I see him in Revelation chapter 1, he has a vision of Christ, and he says, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as a dead man.

To be like God, incredible. How could such a thing be? Luke 6, 36, as your Father in heaven is merciful, you be merciful. 1 Peter 1, as he is holy, you be holy. Matthew 5, 48, as he is perfect, you be perfect. 1 John 4, 11, as he is loving, you be loving. Be like him. Is it possible? Sure, it is. 1. It’s possible by regeneration. 2 Peter 1, 4 says that when you were regenerated, you became a partaker of the divine nature. That’s incredible. You can be like God, because God lives in you, right? You’re a partaker of the divine nature by regeneration.

2. By sanctification, as the Spirit of God works in the life of the believer to conform him to the image of God. And beloved Paul is saying, you know, if you’re going to call yourself a child of God, act like it, will you? I was sitting in a restaurant yesterday, Friday, I guess, and we were talking to someone, and he said, you know, he claims to be a Christian, but you never see God in his life. He claims to be a Christian, but you never see God in his life. He’s saying about an individual.

He would always say he was a Christian, but when you watched him, it never showed. Alexander the Great was going through his army, and there was a soldier with the same name, Alexander, and that soldier was brought before Alexander for acts of cowardice in the midst of battle. And Alexander looked him in the eye and said, soldier, drop your cowardice or drop your name. That’s fair. If you name the name of Jesus, and you name the name of God, then walk like he walked. Isn’t that what 1 John 2, 6 says? He that says he abide in him ought even to walk as he walked.

1 Corinthians 16, 14 sums it up, let all your things be done in love. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of letting all things be done in love. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].