30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] There is no commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:30-31 NIV
If You Don’t Have
My wallet is full, but you will find no money. I believe, like mine, most are filled with customer cards. They allow us access to shop, discounts, and point accrual for rewards.
I can’t give you what I don’t have, but I am empowered to give you what I do have.
Failure to Receive
What if I was standing at the door of Sam’s Club, membership price paid, but I refused to enter because I didn’t feel worthy to shop there.
What if I received a rewards coupon in the mail, but refused to accept it.
In either instance I am not taking advantage of what has been given to me because I refuse to receive.
I also cannot share the membership with another, nor the rewards,because I have denied us both by refusing to receive.
Forgiveness works the same way.
Freely Received, Freely Give
Forgiveness of all my sins has been purchased by the blood of Jesus. This grants me eternal life should I accept it by faith.
There are also blessings, rewards, and promises available to me that are gifts, not earned but received. GRACE.
Forgiveness is something I have to receive in order to give it away.
Grace (a gift not earned),being the same, is something I have to receive in order to extend it to myself.
For by Grace you have been saved and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God.
But what if I decide I’m not going to receive it. What if I decide I am not going to extend it to myself.
My ability to extend it to others is stunted.
Loving someone as we love ourselves is hard when we don’t love ourselves.
References
R.T. Kendall has written two anointed books on Forgiveness. They approach the subject of forgiveness spiritually and theologically.
I am currently reading one:
How to Forgive Ourselves Totally
And, the other I have read multiple times:
If you are struggling with receiving or extending forgiveness I recommend them both.
I leave you with these words from Paul the Apostle. A man once named Saul of Tarsus.
I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
1 Corinthians 4:3-4 NIV
Another Samaritan Woman 