Devotion

Just letting you know that Closing Worship (for the term) will be on Friday morning 28th June beginning at our usual time of 8:50am, instead of Wednesday next week. Hope you can join us! 

Forgiving Others

Forgiveness is one of the most powerful things in the world. We all make mistakes and like to have our page erased so we can start afresh... but when it comes to forgiving others... that can be difficult!

Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, recognized that forgiveness had its challenges. He asked Jesus how many times you had to forgive. Being generous, he suggested 7 times. Jesus responded with a much, much higher number... then followed up with a story of the unforgiving servant. (Matthew 18:21-35) 

Our message in worship yesterday was based on this story. The words in the Lord’s prayer are pretty clear... We ask God to ‘forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us’. 

God sent his son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin to cancel our debt completely. It wasn’t ‘fair’ that Jesus took all our blame... it cost him his life... but he did it because he loves us. And so, we are to forgive others when they do things that are unkind to us. 

Forgiveness means not holding grudges against others. It is setting people free, so that healing can begin. Living in unforgiveness is like being chained to your friend and the bad event that hurt your friendship. 

When you forgive, the chain is broken, hearts can begin to heal and friendships can begin to rebuild.

After a big friendship fire, we can find some heavy feelings in the rubble. There can be unfairness, sadness, even anger. It can be tempting to pick them up again, and nurse the hurt.  But Jesus doesn’t want us to live our lives carrying around the weight of all that heaviness... He wants us to lay them down so he can exchange them for his love, healing and peace as we trust in him. We might have to forgive and lay down our burdens 7 times. We might have to do even more... until we are finally free...

Forgiveness is a choice. It isn’t always easy, but it is powerful and freeing. 

There are many stories in the bible where Jesus forgave those who carried the weight of their sin around with them. People like Zaccheaus, Mary Magdalene and the man who couldn’t walk. They were set free and their lives were never the same again. Who might you forgive today?

Georgie and the Stage Four Worship Actors Group.

Do you find yourself wondering what songs we sing in Wednesday Worship?

Do your children come home singing some of the songs? 

We would like to invite you to our Good Shepherd School Worship Song Playlist on YouTube. 

To find a selection of songs that we sing, click here and start singing along!