OUR DAILY BREAD READING (Published Daily by Our Daily Bread Ministries)
READ: Colossians 3 (Focus vs. 12–14)
MEMORY VERSE
“Bear with each other and forgive one another.” Colossians 3:13
BACKGROUND
Eighty years of marriage! My husband’s great-uncle Pete and great-aunt Ruth celebrated this remarkable milestone on May 31, 2021. After a chance meeting in 1941 when Ruth was still in high school, the young couple were so eager to get married that they eloped the day after Ruth graduated.
Pete and Ruth believe God brought them together and has guided them all these years.
Reflecting on eight decades of marriage, Pete and Ruth both agree that one key to sustaining their relationship has been the decision to choose forgiveness.
Anyone in a healthy relationship understands that we all regularly need forgiveness for the ways we hurt each other, whether through an unkind word, a broken promise, or a forgotten task.
In a section of Scripture written to help believers in Jesus live together in unity, Paul refers to the essential role forgiveness plays.
After urging his readers to choose “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12), Paul adds the encouragement to “forgive one another if any of you has a grievance” (v. 13).
Most importantly, all their interactions with each were to be guided by love (v. 14). Relationships that model the characteristics outlined by Paul are a blessing.
May God help all of us work to cultivate healthy relationships characterized by love and forgiveness.
By: Lisa M. Samra
INSIGHT
Compassion is kindness for people in need. More than just feeling pity, compassion moves you to relieve the misery of a person. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan “had compassion” on the injured man (Luke 10:33 esv), which moved him to come to his rescue.
The Greeks and Romans valued courage, strength, wisdom, power, and revenge. For them, compassion was a weakness, not a virtue. But for believers in Jesus, compassion is what marks us out as God’s children.
Jesus tells us to imitate our heavenly Father: “You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate” (6:36 nlt.) Compassion is God’s very person. In one of the greatest self-revelations in the Bible, He described Himself as “the compassionate and gracious God” (Exodus 34:6).
We’re most like our Father when we’re compassionate, kind, and gracious to others.
By: K. T. Sim
APPLICATION
How have you experienced healing through forgiving or being forgiven? How are relationships strengthened through practicing both forgiveness and accountability?
(PASTOR RICHARD) TAKE
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive EVERYBODY” Maya Angelou
“Forgiveness does not change the past but it enlarges the future” Paul Lewis Boese
PR’s RE-EMPHASIS (From Post)
Anyone in a healthy relationship understands that we all regularly need forgiveness for the ways we hurt each other, whether through an unkind word, a broken promise, or a forgotten task.
“Compassion is God’s very person…We’re most like our Father when we’re compassionate, kind, and gracious to others.”
PRAYER
“Jesus, help me to forgive others just as You’ve forgiven me”.
TODAY’s HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“FORGIVENESS” MATTHEW WEST
It’s the hardest thing to give away
And the last thing on your mind today
It always goes to those who don’t deserve
It’s the opposite of how you feel
When the pain they caused is just too real
Takes everything you have to say the word:
Forgiveness, forgiveness
It flies in the face of all your pride
It moves away the mad inside
It’s always anger’s own worst enemy
Even when the jury and the judge
Say you’ve got a right to hold a grudge
It’s the whisper in your ear,
Saying set it free
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
It’ll clear the bitterness away
It can even set a prisoner free
There is no end to what its power can do
So let it go and be amazed
By what you see through eyes of grace
The prisoner that it really frees is you
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
I want finally set it free
Show me how to see what your mercy sees
Help me now to give what You gave to me
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Forgiveness, forgiveness
READING THROUGH THE BIBLE DAILY IN 2023
EXODUS 14-15
MATTHEW 17