Mentoring Minutes

“…forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” Paul  (Ephesians 4:32b)

Love and Lordship in Focus…Faith is the foundation but forgiveness is the pillar on which our life in Christ is made possible. He gave all to forgive us and calls us to forgive just as He did! Without forgiveness, Heaven and eternal life are out of our reach.

Remember that our purpose in going through all these “one anothers” in Scripture is to fulfill the second part of the Second Greatest Command…”Love yourself (who you are in Christ) so you can love others as you love yourself.”

The “one anothers” teach us very clearly what loving our neighbors, i.e., all others looks like. With that said, the next “one another” is perhaps the most powerful and the most difficult one we will encounter…but that does not in any way excuse us from following through with this extremely important aspect of love.

Paul continues (from our previous command in last week’s post) in Ephesians 4:32 that we are to “…Forgive one another…just as in Christ, God forgave you.” Three simple yet profound words that will ultimately set the path for your life depending on whether you choose to obediently and lovingly follow through…or not.

I can’t tell you how many people that I’ve encountered, counseled, discipled and mentored that have been completely impacted by this command. The actual percentage is 100%. Either they have chosen not to forgive and have lived their entire life with the draining, fatiguing, overwhelming burden or unforgiveness that they think is actually making things better because of what someone else has done to them. Or they have chosen to forgive and lay down that excruciating burden of carrying someone else’s sin toward them (or the offense that they wrongly held toward another).

Someone has said the unforgiveness is like filling a syringe with poison to inject the other person and then injecting yourself with it. Forgiveness, on the other hand, is not only loving and fulfilling, it may be the most freeing thing that you can ever do (Psalm 32).

If Christ can forgive each and every one of us, including you and me, and our sins against Him and all others we’ve sinned against, then we can certainly extend that same forgiveness to others.

One final thought on forgiveness that may help you understand the tremendous burden of unforgiveness…Matthew 6:14-15 states, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

That’s an incredible burden to bear, not only in this life but in the life to come. Don’t carry it around for one moment longer because Jesus has made it so you don’t have to!

Food for Thought…Who do you need to forgive today? What unforgiveness are you holding onto? Who do you need to ask forgiveness of today? I promise you that forgiving all others will free your heart and mind for all The Lord has in store for you…but you must truly forgive and let go.

Love in Action –

1. Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start.
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
3. Meditate on all that God has forgiven you in Christ…is there something you need to ask Him for forgiveness right now?
4. Is there someone, anyone, several that may have wronged you and you’ve not forgiven them? Write down names, pray and ask The Lord for humility and courage to forgive them right now, Today.
5. Is there anyone you need to ask for their forgiveness? Do it today.

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, thank You for the incredible gift of forgiveness that we have been given in Christ. Your Word tells me that I need to forgive just as Christ has forgiven me and that if I don’t then I’m not forgiven. I don’t want to carry that incredible burden now and certainly not into eternity. Help me to forgive completely and freely just as I’ve been forgiven by You in Christ. In His Name. Amen.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another…” Paul (Ephesians 4:32a NIV)

Love and Lordship in Focus…Look at the traits necessary to bear with others from last week’s post…Humility, gentleness and patience…all fruit of The Holy Spirit! Being kind and compassionate with others also requires The Holy Spirit…how are you doing when it comes to bearing with, and being kind and compassionate, to others?

Paul continues to the believers in Ephesus with more powerful “one anothers”. We find a couple of them in Ephesians 4:32 (one today and another next week) where he commands them to “Be kind and compassionate to one another…”

If you’ve followed L&L very long you know that the context of the Jewish culture in which the Bible was predominantly written, these words were given not just as advice or suggestions (as we tend to take them today, unfortunately). They were given and received as commands that were to be followed if you truly loved The Lord and others. They were totally about our love for Him and others rather than whether or not those who received them agreed with them and/or were comfortable following through.

We need to take seriously, even when it costs us, what each of these “one anothers” means and be just as serious about following through and living them out with others. It’s usually easy to be kind and compassionate to those who offer the same to you. However, we can often take those closest to us…spouse, children, family, church family…for granted and fail to follow through with kindness and compassion to them.

It is usually easiest to treat those in the middle (superficial relationships that are rooted in momentary conversations and times together) while failing to build deeper relationships and/or taking advantage of the closer relationships we do have.

On the other end of the spectrum, how are you doing in offering kindness and compassion to those who don’t treat you in kind? Jesus modeled and taught that we are to love all of our fellow human beings…from our spouse and family to those who can, nor will ever, repay us…even to our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). While this “one another” is certainly first and foremost to believers and how we treat other believers and those closest to us. It then also moves beyond to fulfill all the law of love as we are kind and compassionate as Christ was, even to our enemies.

Food for Thought…Who do you need to show kindness and compassion to today? Those who deserve it because they are kind to you? What about those who are not kind to you? Jesus showed it to everyone and He is our model.

Love in Action –

1. Spend time with Him in His Word and prayer daily – read and study the Scriptures in this post as a way to start.
2. Ask The Holy Spirit to teach you.
3. How can you show kindness and compassion to those around you, even those who don’t always treat you well?
4. Find at least one person that you struggle with and begin today to treat them with kindness and compassion in word and deed.

Contact us at loveandlordship@gmail.com.

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, forgive me when I reserve my kindness and compassion to those moments when it looks the best and requires the least. Forgive me when I fail to show kindness to others because they don’t show it to me. Help me to be obedient to these “one another” commands, first with those closest to me, then to all believers and finally, even to those who don’t treat me in this way, including any enemies. In doing so may they see Christ. In His Name. Amen.

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Paul (Ephesians 4:2 NIV)

Love and Lordship in Focus…Look at the traits necessary to bear with others…Humility, gentleness and patience…all fruit of The Holy Spirit! Being kind and compassionate with others also requires The Holy Spirit…how are you doing when it comes to bearing with, and being kind and compassionate, to others?

It just makes sense that how we treat “one another,” lovingly or unlovingly, reveals how we are walking with Christ as His disciples and His Church. So it follows that all the “one anothers” of Christian living and relationships come from Christ and in the letters to the churches and believers…and to us today as well.

Paul shares most of these “one anothers” and so we continue in His letter to the Ephesian church where he gives us a positive command but one that’s often difficult to follow through. As a matter of fact, as with all of these, the only way we can consistently follow through in love is by the power of The Holy Spirit. In

Ephesians 4:2 he encourages (and commands) us to “…Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

In the King James Version it is said as follows, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;” If we’re honest with ourselves this is another “OUCH!” Let me go one step further as in the New Living Translation where it states, “make allowances for each other’s faults.” Yet another translation uses the word “tolerance.” This is not the tolerance of this age where you must agree with others or you’re not “tolerant.” This is true tolerance where we continue to be patient and bear with one another in love even when we disagree. OUCH again!

In my flesh I don’t care for the words “lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing or making allowances.” I can be patient and bear with others for a little while (I know that’s a contradiction but that’s how we often apply these words and commands in Scripture) but in my flesh “enough is enough.” It’s time to get with it and move on people.

As with every “one another,” in order for us to truly walk these out in our lives as Christ’s disciples and together as His Family, we must recognize and surrender to The Holy Spirit or our flesh will cut short any patience, longsuffering or forbearing with others. We must follow through on these in order to be more like Christ and show the world and culture His Love. In order to do so we must once again “die to our flesh.”

Food for Thought…When you claim to have patience and bear with others, how long does it usually last? Are you relying on your own flesh (maybe because in comparison with others you seem much more patient)…or are you relying on The Holy Spirit to give you grace and strength to “be patient and bear with one another in love?”  

Love in Action –

1. Read the Scriptures in this article and ask The Holy Spirit to teach you Who Jesus is.
2. What does it look like for you to cast your burdens on The Lord? Can you testify to how God has carried your burdens? 
3. Out of His love for us, how can we show that love to others? What patience do you need to carry the burdens of others?
4. How might carrying others’ burdens cause you to fall into temptation?

Love and Lordship Prayer Focus…Heavenly Father, thank You for forgiving me and in Your love for me carrying burdens that I am unable to carry. May I show Your love for me and others by helping to carry their burdens and I ask that You help me to develop more patience and also keep me from temptation and sin as I do so.  In Jesus’ Name. Amen.