New-Challenges-Banner

Redeem the Commute is not just about courses – it’s about being part of a community of people being challenged to live differently by following Jesus.  We posted fresh daily challenges from 2012 to 2016 that followed a daily and weekly rhythm:

  • Mondays: A New Idea
  • Tuesdays: Study It
  • Wednesdays: Change our Thinking
  • Thursdays: Act on It
  • Fridays: Reflect on It
  • Saturdays: Rest
  • Sundays: Community
Start by checking out the daily challenge, and then invite someone else to join  you.  When you’ve been meeting in a group for a little while, register your group here.  You can also discuss the daily challenge here.
.

Ryan Sim - May 15, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - Forgiveness

Sermon on the Mount

You’ve probably heard the saying, “forgive and forget,” but forgiveness is not slavishly forgetting wrongs, that would simply allow many to be victimized again. It’s also not about demanding someone change before we forgive them. It’s not just thinking that time will heal everything. It’s actively releasing someone into God’s hands, and allowing him to determine punishment or forgiveness. Forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. It names the hurt, acknowledges it happened, and that it was wrong. And then it’s a gift we give the other person, by releasing them from our feeble attempts to be God and judge over them. It’s about loving our enemies, recognizing them as a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness. Jesus was about forgiveness, and forgiving others allows us to be living examples of his forgiveness. This is why it’s such a big sign of discipleship – almost formulaic. The message of God’s forgiveness needs to be talked about, but also needs to be lived out. The best sign that we have experienced God’s forgiveness is that we start spreading it around. One journalist wrote, "I think the most powerful demonstration of the depth of Amish forgiveness was when members of the Amish community went to the killer's burial service at the cemetery," Kraybill says. "Several families, Amish families who had buried their own daughters just the day before were in attendance and they hugged the widow, and hugged other members of the killer's family." Imagine the release for that family. The guilt they experienced, their last name tarnished, so on. The community’s forgiveness meant they were now freed for new beginnings. Tomorrow, we see how forgiveness is also about releasing you, the one doing the forgiving. Question: Have you ever been forgiven? What did it release you to do?

From Series: "Sermon on the Mount"

Discuss the Daily Challenge

More From "Sermon on the Mount"

Powered by Series Engine

Podcast Users

Our web site is built for live streaming of video and audio courses, but you may prefer to use a podcast app where you subscribe.  For copyright reasons, you won’t find us in podcasting directories, but should subscribe by entering this link in your favourite podcasting app:

Today’s Challenge https://www.redeemthecommute.com/?feed=seriesengine&enmse_pid=12
All Challenges https://www.redeemthecommute.com/?feed=seriesengine&enmse_pid=11