Today’s thought “Forgive … from your heart” (January 16)

Today’s thought

“Forgive … from your heart”

(January 16)

The message that jumps out of all three Bible readings today is how God can react to our attitudes. In Genesis Jacob married both Leah and Rachel, the daughters of Laban, but Rachel he loved and Leah he hated. God reacted,

“When the LORD saw that Leah was hated he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren” (29:31).

God reacts to the attitudes of those who seek to serve him, also to those who do not!

In Psalm 33:10 we read,

“The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples”.

The outcome of the big gathering and talkfest in Copenhagen was a good illustration of this. Also in this Psalm we read,

“Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love” (verse 18).

The teaching of Jesus in Matthew 18 also illustrates the same lesson. Jesus reacts strongly when his disciples ask him,

“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (verse 1)

and sets a child in their midst and says a child-like attitude is essential, telling the disciples

“unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom …” (verse 3).

Harden Not Your Hearts

The chapter finishes with a parable about a king who set out to settle accounts with servants who owed him money. He is willing to forgive one who is deeply in debt, but when it was reported that this servant did not have a forgiving attitude toward a fellow servant who owed him a little money, the King was angry with that servant and delivered him to the jailers.

The chapter ends with Jesus saying,

“So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart”.

We must note those last three words in our hearts.

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Preceding

May the Lord direct your hearts to …

Today’s thought “Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity” (January 15)

With all your heart

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Additional reading

1. The Greatest of These is Love
2. Forgiveness always possible

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Related

1. Genesis 29
2. A Walk Through The Bible – Genesis 29 – Self-Sacrificial Love…
3. Genesis 29, Jacob works seven years for Rachel, marries Leah (and Rachel), Leah’s four children.
4. Eyes on Our Comforter – Genesis 29:31-36
5. Sermon Recording- Meeting Your Match (Genesis 29)
6. The Power of Love…Psalms 32-34Psalm 33 The Earth is Full of the Steadfast Love of God
7. This poor man called; the Lord heard him (Psalm 33)
8. Faith, Freedom and Folly before the Lord
9. I will bless the Lord at all times (Psalm 33)
10. July 29th Memorial of St Martha, Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 33 OR Psalm 105)
11. For Our Heart is Glad in Him – Psalm 33:21
12. Upside Down Kingdom Parables: Matthew 18
13. Matthew 18, the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, the lost sheep, church discipline, the unmerciful servant.
14. Matthew 18丨C. H. Spurgeon
15. We Might Have Missed Something in “Faith Like a Child”
16. What Do Our Hearts Look Like? (Matthew 18:21–35)
17. Settling accounts
18. Seventy-seven Times?!
19. How Often to Forgive?
20. Vengeance or Forgiveness
21. Harden Not Your Hearts: Reflection on the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
22. Matthew 18:15-20 – Don’t Read a Single Bible Verse!
23. Faith