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God's Words For US

    by Cecelia Lester

Forgiveness Is Vital
Date Posted: July 28, 2023

...when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Mark 11:25 (NIV)

Words of Jesus

Jesus shares a very basic thought with His disciples, the importance of forgiveness.

What this passage tells me is the importance of forgiveness. In order for God to be able to forgive us of our sins, we have to forgive those whom we believe have caused us hurt.

A young woman was sobbing as I went into the restroom after church service one Sunday. She shared with me why she was terribly upset. An older woman who served on a committee with her had said something that was very hurtful about a project that the younger woman had worked on. As far as I know, the issue was not handled correctly. The result, the younger woman and her companion and eventually her daughter and grandchildren left the church. Also, the older woman seems to attend services spasmodically. In essence, as I see it, this issue never got resolved in a Christlike manner.

I wonder: How many times in Christ’s kingdom has forgiveness not been practiced when it should have been.

I have written before that when we can’t extend forgiveness to another person, we can ask God to forgive him or her for us. I have had to do this. It helped me to get over some deep hurts and to function in my life.

From time to time, we need to examine our lives to see whether we need to extend to or ask forgiveness of someone. This is very important to who we profess to be in our Christian walk.

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Biography Information:

Cecelia Lester has been serious about her writing for over two decades..

She composes Christian essays and posts them to her blog quietspirit-followingmyking.blogspot.com/

She has  served in a faith-based organization, Grace In Action  by writing two newsletters and searching for possible grants.

In July 2017, she published her first book, 'Times of Trouble Bring Rays of Joy.'

She and her husband of 54 years live in central Indiana. They have one grown son.

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