Day 10
Thursday
A Forgiving Spirit
Genesis 50:19-21
Joseph said…, “Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
The Christian spirit, wrote Jonathan Edwards, is “a forgiving spirit or a disposition to overlook and forgive injuries… Without it the apostle tells us… we are a sounding brass or… tinkling cymbal. There is no one virtue or disposition of the mind that is so often and so expressly insisted on in the marks that are laid down in the New Testament, whereby to know true Christians.” [1]
Few men were more abused than Joseph at the hands of his brothers. He was kidnapped, torn from his father, nearly killed, stripped, sold into slavery, accused of sexual assault, entombed in an Egyptian prison, and held in bondage form age 17 to 30. Yet afterward he comforted his brothers, spoke kindly to them, and cared for their needs.
Have you spoken kindly to someone who has hurt you? It’s only possible by the grace of the Lord Jesus, who forgives us and asks us to forgive others. Release those feelings of bitterness. Nail them to the cross. And extend the grace you received to someone who needs it today.
Recommended Reading: Matthew 18:21-35
Quote
Nothing can be invented that is a greater absurdity than a morose, hard, close, high spirited, spiteful true Christian.
Jonathan Edwards
From: “Turning Points,” Magazine and Devotional
[1] Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections (Philadelphia: James Crissy, 1821), 309-312
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