Pause

Love itself may be at stake. If we are unable to forgive one another, we will not be able to love.

Perhaps this is why we can declare with confidence that God is love; it is because, first, God is forgiving.

With so much at risk, God will see to it that love does not leave room for resentment. Instead, God will lead in the cause of mercy.

Listen

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

Luke 8:1-3

Think

As Christ-followers, we are given the privilege and responsibility of proclaiming and bringing the Kingdom and God.

It can be hard to pinpoint exactly what the kingdom looks like. Oftentimes it seems foreign to us because we find ourselves living within the kingdom of this world. The kingdom of this world may be ordered by greed, hate, and violence, but the kingdom of God flows with love, peace, and forgiveness. Our world is in desperate need of being introduced to God’s kingdom, and God’s people must work to help it break through in love. We can unveil the kingdom of God to this world through forgiveness.

Henri Nouwen once wrote, “Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.”

Sara Hunt

Pray

God, today may your kingdom come and may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May I be a proclaimer and a bringer of this kingdom through my actions of love and forgiveness. Amen.

Go

There's a gate just ahead, inviting you to pass through. It is marked "Forgiveness." It leads the way to acceptance, confirmation, recognition, being embraced and held. It takes you down the pathway that brings you love.

Reach out and open easily the latch. Step lightly through the gate's portal. Our forgiving God welcomes you there.