Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Jesus’ additional teaching following the example of the wasteful fig tree (Mark 11:12-14, 20-24) includes further instruction regarding prayer: “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also [Who] is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father [Who] is in heaven forgive your trespasses” (verses 25-26). Standing was the usual position of prayer at that time; no particular posture is commanded in Scripture. What is required is a belief in the principle of forgiveness. If we have no interest in forgiving others, we are demonstrating that we have no genuine interest in the forgiveness that is freely offered by and through God the Son, Jesus Christ. Such disdain for something that is so precious to Him is a rejection of Him and His everlasting forgiveness. A refusal to forgive becomes a refusal of our Lord’s forgiveness. Most Christians are quite familiar with the Lord’s Prayer, which says in part, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). Whenever we recite this verse, we are reminding ourselves of how important forgiveness is to our Savior God and of how important it should be to us.