Praise the Lord Event Part Trois

"The Lord laid it on my heart to forgive your debt"
Thats what Mr Wood said. I got to thinking about that statement.
I got to thinking about Obedience, Forgiveness and Love.

Mr Wood felt he was being asked by God to forgive my debt.He responded in obedience and did just that.

A man came up to Jesus and asked him how he could get to the kingdom of God. Jesus told him to sell everything he owned, pick up his cross and follow God. Sounds like a tall order. I think what he was saying is that a person had to be prepared to give up everything temporal and focus on the kingdom. If the man had done what Jesus asked, then he would have showed obedience to God and would have been rewarded. No, the man couldnt get his head aroung giving up something that was rightfully his. This was a tall order.

In contrast, Mr Wood was quite prepared to give up something that was rightfully his, for the sake of another. Mr Wood was obedient to Gods desire.
This act of debt forgiveness is an awesome example to me. It reminds me of the great love that God has for us. It reminds me of the love that we need to have for each other.

When we look back to the Old Testament, God was quite angry with how we treated each other. Debt forgiveness was made into law called Jubilee. God knew that the people at that time were preying on each other. People were brought into slavery and bondage because of their debts to each other. Love and forgiveness were very difficult concepts and had to be made law, because they were not second nature. God did say there would come a time when this law would be written on our hearts.

Ultimately God fixed this issue by dying on the cross as an ultimate sign of love and forgiveness. I think about terms like self giving love, forsaking oneself for a brother, loving a neighbour as thyself, love the Lord thy God and thy neighbour as thyself etc.

So if Mr Wood was obedient to Gods desire for my debt to be forgiven, where does that leave me? I could chose to accept the debt forgiveness or insist on paying the debt.

If I chose to accept the debt forgiveness, then I am substantiating Mr Woods desire to be obedient to God and forgive me. I also now think about God. He obviously therefor wanted Mr Wood to forgive me. Who is the most blessed? Mr Wood is blessed because of his obedience and I am blessed by being forgiven.

What If I let my pride speak and say no. What if I reject the offer? Am I rejecting Gods desire that mt debt might be forgiven? Am I rejecting Mr Woods claim and obedience?

I dont want to read too much into this, but it is beginning to remind me of my saviour. This scenario is almost a "type" of Christ.

Forgiveness is available to us. Accept Gods free gift of Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Jesus came to teach us how God wanted us to relate to Himself and to our own brothers and sisters. We accumulated a very large debt and he offerred us forgiveness. Do we accept this gift or do we reject this gift?

Ask yourself 2 things.
One......Do I accept the free gift of God's forgiveness?
Two......If God calls on me to forgive soemone else of their debt, will I be obedient and do so?

I am grateful to Mr Wood for reminding me about obedience, love and forgiveness.
Every time I look at those skillfully crafted beams, I will remember that they came to me at someone else's expense.

The love and gratitude build up momentum in my heart to the point where I cant wait for God to ask me to do the same. I hope I don't let him down.

Gracious Father. Thank you for this lesson about obedience, love and forgiveness. Thank you that you paid the ultimate price for me. Thank you that you continue to speak to us today. Lord grant me strength, wisdom and love that will make me like you in heavenly terms, and like Mr Wood in earthly terms. Thank you Lord for Mr Wood. I pray that you will bless and keep him. Father, sometimes I feel unworthy of your love and forgivness. Sometimes I feel like you are so far away. Thank you for reminding me that you are not. Lord I love you and pray that I may never forsake you.
I pray this in the wonderful forgiving name of Jesus Christ.

dw