Post by Cindy on Feb 25, 2016 9:08:32 GMT -5
This has to be the very best explanation of what Jesus tells us to do when we've been sinned against that I've ever heard or read. Best of all, because it's written with such gentle humor and truth, it's very easy to remember so we can easily apply our Lord's words to our lives.
“So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” (Luke 17:3)
Those are difficult words. The first is hard, extremely hard, and the second even more so. But, let’s look first at the rheumatism: “ If your brother sins, rebuke him.”
As verse 4 makes clear, the sin about which Jesus is speaking is a sin against you. The question arises immediately; How do you handle sins against you? Think about that a bit. How do you?
Here you are, minding your own business, provoking no one to anger, just surveying the scene. All of a sudden, literally or figuratively (probably the latter) your brother (or sister) comes along, stomps all over your toes, and disappears over the hill. There you stand—through no fault of your own—with ten toes flattened out like ten silver dollar pancakes. They hurt! Now, what do you do next?
Well, some begin to whine and feel sorry for themselves. They look for the syrup and pour it all over their feet. They hold a pity party and invite others to join in. But that isn’t what Jesus said to do.
Others get furious. They storm about making their wrath known, and either go after the brother to tell him off or charge around their home kicking chairs or children instead. Neither is that which Jesus said to do.
A third group, more pious than the rest, go around the congregation displaying their flattened toes to as many as will view them, saying, “Now, you understand that I don’t mean to gossip in telling you what so-and-so did. I’m just warning you so that you can protect yourself from such injury in the future.” But Jesus didn’t tell you to do that either.
What did He say?
Jesus says, “Rebuke him.” That’s rheumatism!
What He tells you to do is go after the brother, take him (gently) by the collar, and say, “Brother, look at my toes!”
Notice, Jesus doesn’t allow you to go tell others about it, to sit in the corner and feel sorry for yourself, to take it out on others in your vicinity, or even to tell the elders. He says go to the one who tread on your toes, and talk to him about it.
“But why should I go?” you ask. “I didn’t start anything. I was an innocent bystander, just surveying the scene when he (or she) came along and flattened my toes. Shouldn’t he come to me?”
That is a reasonable question and one that many persons ask. The trouble is that most of them answer it the wrong way. Jesus is saying, in effect, that whenever your brother or sister wrongs you, that obligates you to take action. No matter how innocent you may have been, you are obligated to go to him.
“But isn’t he obligated to come to me? I don’t see why his sin against me obligates me to act; let him come to me.”
Yes, as a matter of fact, if he has sinned against you, he is obligated to come to you. But that is another passage, to which we are not currently referring (Matt. 5:23–24). The command in Luke is for you to go to him. Both commands are important; you should go and he should go. Ideally, you ought to meet each other on the way.
“Well, if he’s obligated to go, I don’t see why I must do so too.”
Let me try to explain. You haven’t seen your friend Jane for several months; she’s been away traveling. This morning you see her at church, seated on the opposite side of the building. You can’t wait till the service is over to talk to her. At the conclusion of the service, you rush around the pews and happily call to her, “Jane! Jane! It’s so good to see you!” But Jane sticks her nose into the air, turns on her heel, and sails out of the church as rapidly as possible, without so much as a “how do you do?”
You stand there hurt and perplexed. If you respond as many do, you’ll say, “Hurrruuummmph! If that’s the way she’s going to act, then so be it! I can wait till she comes down off her high horse and wants to talk. Then maybe I’ll be ready to do so and maybe I won’t!”
But, you see, Jesus won’t let you do that. He tells you to go after her and show her your toes. Suppose you do. Having recovered from the shock, you say to yourself, “Something’s wrong here. I’ve got to get to the bottom of it. I can’t have this happen to Jane and me.” So you hightail it out of the church after her. There she is over at her car. You go over and you say, “Jane! What’s wrong? I was so glad to see you home again that I rushed over to see you after church, but when I called to you, you stuck your nose in the air and left. What’s wrong?”
Perhaps Jane’s response will be something like this: “Oh no! Mary, I didn’t even hear or see you! you see, I caught a bad cold on my trip abroad, and the pastor preached forever today, and I left my tissues in the car, and I thought for sure I was going to drip all over my new dress and my Bible. That’s why I put my nose back and rushed out here to get those tissues. I was so preoccupied with all that I didn’t see or hear you.”
“Stupid illustration,”you say.
Yes, but I chose it because I have known case after case where friendships have been destroyed over misunderstandings just as stupid as that. Don’t you see? You are obligated to go because the brother or sister may not know that he (she) stepped on your toes. It may all be a misunderstanding. So, the rule is:
The one with the sore toes goes because he’s the one who always knows.
Rebuking—What It Means Here
It is important here to distinguish between things that differ. There are two words in the New Testament for rebuking. One means “to so prosecute a case against another that he is convicted of the crime of which he was accused.” Needless to say, that is not the word used here.
The other, which Jesus uses in this connection, means “to rebuke tentatively.” That is to say, when you go, you must do so with caution. You go with the facts as you see them. You present the facts. Then you wait for any possible forthcoming explanation that might clear up a misunderstanding or that might mitigate the situation. If there is none, the offense has been committed, and if your brother or sister repents, you are to forgive him or her. If he refuses, that may possibly lead to informal (and eventually formal) church discipline. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Right now, it is important to stress that when you go, you give the brother or sister an opportunity to explain any misunderstanding, if he or she can.
So much for the rheumatism; now for the gout: “If he repents, forgive him.”
“That’s the gout? I thought you said that the second half of verse 3 was more difficult than the first. I certainly don’t see how rebuking him is easier than forgiving him if he repents.”
Well, there is a good reason for Jesus’ warning. If you let your guard down, you could easily be lulled into thinking so. But let me sketch a brief scenario for you.
There you are once again, simply standing there surveying the scene, doing no one any harm, provoking no one to wrath or anger, when all of a sudden, out of a clear blue sky, “pow!” Literally or figuratively (probably the latter), your brother hits you right on the old beezer! There you are, nourishing and cherishing your sore nose when here he comes, hat in hand, shuffling up.
He says, “You know what I did?”
You reply, “I certainly do; why’ dja do it?”
“Well,” he says, “you see, I’ve got this terrible temper, and I got upset, and you were the closest one around, so I… Oh, I’m sorry. It was nothing personal. Will you forgive me?”
“Yeah,” you say, molding your nose back into shape, “but don’t do it again.”
Five minutes later, just when your nose is beginning to feel a little bit better “pow!” He does it again! And again he comes, hat in hand, shuffling toward you. “Do you know what I did?”
“I sure do. Why’ dja do it? I thought you said you weren’t going to do that again!”
“Well, you see, I’ve got this temper, and—”
“I know about your temper.”
“Well, you can’t do much to overcome a temper like this in five minutes! Will you forgive me?”
“Yes, But don’t do it again!”
Not once, not twice, but seven times in the same day (literally or figuratively) he socks you on the old beezer. And seven times, he returns asking for forgiveness. What will you do?
Well, there are many who will say, “Once, yes; twice, maybe, three times—no way.”
But Jesus said, “And if he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him” (Luke 17:4). That’s gout; it hurts!
Now, of course, by “seven times” Jesus didn’t mean only seven times; he just rounded it off with that number, meaning, in effect, “as often as it happens that way, you must forgive him.”
The apostles understood well enough that this was “gout” “ Then the apostles said to the Lord, ‘Whew! Increase our faith’” (Luke 17:5). Of course, there was no “whew!” because the Greeks didn’t have a word for it. But that certainly expresses their attitude. They were saying, “If we have to do that, Lord, we’re going to need more faith!”
That was a pretty good response on their part, wasn’t it?
No! It wasn’t. It was a pious cop-out! Look how Jesus handled it: “But the Lord said, ‘If you have faith like a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree “Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,” and it would obey you” (Luke 17:6). What was He saying? He was saying, “I told you to do something and here you are making excuses why you can’t. You say, When I get more faith, I’ll obey. But not before.’I tell you it isn’t a matter of how much faith you have. If you have any faith at all, even a smidgen the size of a mustard seed, you could do wonders with it. Don’t tell Me you need more faith. This is a matter of obedience, not a matter of the amount of faith you have.”
So, the excuse “when I get more faith” is shattered.
But notice also how Jesus structured His example: “If he sins…seven times a day… and returns seven times saying ‘I repent.’” that wording eliminates a second common excuse for not obeying.
People will, say, “But if he hits me in the nose (literally or figuratively) seven times a day, his repentance can’t be sincere; after all, ‘by their fruit shall you know them.’ I would forgive him if I saw any fruit appropriate to repentance.”
But when did you ever see a watermelon grow in a day? A cantaloupe? Even a grape? Jesus structures His example in such a way that no such excuse could be forth coming. Fruit takes time to grow. It takes cultivation, work, etc. And, as Jesus set it up, the man comes “saying” he is repentant. In love, “believing all things, hoping all things,” you must take his naked word for it. No, you may not say, “When I see the fruit, I’ll forgive.” The second excuse has evaporated.
But before the third is brought to bear, Jesus tells a story:
Which of you, if he had a slave plowing or tending sheep, would say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come and recline at the table right away’? Wouldn’t he say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and when you are dressed, serve me until I have finished eating and drinking, and then you can eat and drink? Does he thank the slave because he did what he was commanded? So you too, when you do everything you are commanded, say, ’We are unprofitable slaves; we have simply done what we ought to have done.’” (Luke 17:7–10)
Picture this slave, who has been working under a hot Palestinian sun all day long, coming home. He’s tired thirsty, hungry, sweaty, and smelly. Does his master size up his condition and say to him, “Go take a shower, and get something to eat”? No, not on your life. What he says is, “Go get those sweaty, smelly clothes off, take a shower, and then go into the kitchen and fix my dinner. And don’t you take a bit of food until I have finished eating.” Perhaps, the master even posts a guard to see that his orders are followed.
Now here is this servant throwing golden lumps of butter into a pot of mashed potatoes. There are the green peas bubbling on the stove, and the aroma of roast beef is filling the air. Can’t you see him? There he stands, his own stomach growling, his mouth watering, but he can’t touch a bite of the food. By the time he brings the food out, it doesn’t even look like food anymore. It looks like mountains of potatoes, lakes of gravy, fields of green peas, and forests of roast beef reaching into the sky. And he has to stand there, with a towel hanging over one arm, waiting for his master to finish toying with the last pea on the end of his fork. Then he has to bring in the dessert! But instead of dessert, it looks like Niagaras of whipped cream cascading over cliffs of apricots!
Ok, got the picture so far? Now think about it. Everything in that slave says, “Eat it yourself; forget what that guy out there has said.” But he can’t. He must obey his master against all his feelings. He cannot say, “If I feel like it I will obey.” And, Jesus makes the point that even then, he hasn’t done anything exceptional, but only what he is supposed to do.
So, now three excuses have been demolished. You can’t beg off from Christ’s commands regarding forgiveness by simply saying, “When I get more faith,” or by saying, “When I see the fruit,” or by saying, “When I feel like it, I will forgive.”
Adams, J. E. (1989). From forgiven to forgiving
I wish I could share more from this book because it's so very good! In the next part, he explains why we can't go by our feelings, and again does so in such a way that it's unforgettable and makes a whole lot of sense. I heartily recommend this book for everyone because love and forgiveness is a way of life for the christian and not something we can every put off. Here's a link to it on Amazon for the paperback version:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/1879737124?keywords=From%20forgiven%20to%20forgiving%20%20Adams&qid=1456408576&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
You can get the e-book version for Logos here: www.logos.com/product/2779/from-forgiven-to-forgiving
Here's what it says about the book:
What do the following statements about forgiveness have in common?
·Forgiveness is obtained through apologizing.
·The best thing you can do is "forgive and forget".
·You aren't forgiven until you feel forgiven.
·Even if someone hasn't asked for forgiveness, you can still forgive them.
These statements all represent popular misconceptions about true biblical forgiveness. Because forgiveness plays such a major role in our relationships with other people, it's critical to have a clear idea of God's plan for forgiving and being forgiven. Distortions in His plan can lead to twisted thinking and further pain for those struggling with forgiveness issues.
In this book, Dr. Jay Adams carefully explores all dimensions of the process of forgiveness. He can help you understand biblical forgiveness from beginning to end, and apply that understanding to everyday situations ranging from forgiving your straying spouse or prodigal child--and being forgiven by them as well.
If you have experienced the incredible power of God's forgiveness in you life, read this book and see how forgiveness' power can change your life as you relate to others.
“So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” (Luke 17:3)
Those are difficult words. The first is hard, extremely hard, and the second even more so. But, let’s look first at the rheumatism: “ If your brother sins, rebuke him.”
As verse 4 makes clear, the sin about which Jesus is speaking is a sin against you. The question arises immediately; How do you handle sins against you? Think about that a bit. How do you?
Here you are, minding your own business, provoking no one to anger, just surveying the scene. All of a sudden, literally or figuratively (probably the latter) your brother (or sister) comes along, stomps all over your toes, and disappears over the hill. There you stand—through no fault of your own—with ten toes flattened out like ten silver dollar pancakes. They hurt! Now, what do you do next?
Well, some begin to whine and feel sorry for themselves. They look for the syrup and pour it all over their feet. They hold a pity party and invite others to join in. But that isn’t what Jesus said to do.
Others get furious. They storm about making their wrath known, and either go after the brother to tell him off or charge around their home kicking chairs or children instead. Neither is that which Jesus said to do.
A third group, more pious than the rest, go around the congregation displaying their flattened toes to as many as will view them, saying, “Now, you understand that I don’t mean to gossip in telling you what so-and-so did. I’m just warning you so that you can protect yourself from such injury in the future.” But Jesus didn’t tell you to do that either.
What did He say?
Jesus says, “Rebuke him.” That’s rheumatism!
What He tells you to do is go after the brother, take him (gently) by the collar, and say, “Brother, look at my toes!”
Notice, Jesus doesn’t allow you to go tell others about it, to sit in the corner and feel sorry for yourself, to take it out on others in your vicinity, or even to tell the elders. He says go to the one who tread on your toes, and talk to him about it.
“But why should I go?” you ask. “I didn’t start anything. I was an innocent bystander, just surveying the scene when he (or she) came along and flattened my toes. Shouldn’t he come to me?”
That is a reasonable question and one that many persons ask. The trouble is that most of them answer it the wrong way. Jesus is saying, in effect, that whenever your brother or sister wrongs you, that obligates you to take action. No matter how innocent you may have been, you are obligated to go to him.
“But isn’t he obligated to come to me? I don’t see why his sin against me obligates me to act; let him come to me.”
Yes, as a matter of fact, if he has sinned against you, he is obligated to come to you. But that is another passage, to which we are not currently referring (Matt. 5:23–24). The command in Luke is for you to go to him. Both commands are important; you should go and he should go. Ideally, you ought to meet each other on the way.
“Well, if he’s obligated to go, I don’t see why I must do so too.”
Let me try to explain. You haven’t seen your friend Jane for several months; she’s been away traveling. This morning you see her at church, seated on the opposite side of the building. You can’t wait till the service is over to talk to her. At the conclusion of the service, you rush around the pews and happily call to her, “Jane! Jane! It’s so good to see you!” But Jane sticks her nose into the air, turns on her heel, and sails out of the church as rapidly as possible, without so much as a “how do you do?”
You stand there hurt and perplexed. If you respond as many do, you’ll say, “Hurrruuummmph! If that’s the way she’s going to act, then so be it! I can wait till she comes down off her high horse and wants to talk. Then maybe I’ll be ready to do so and maybe I won’t!”
But, you see, Jesus won’t let you do that. He tells you to go after her and show her your toes. Suppose you do. Having recovered from the shock, you say to yourself, “Something’s wrong here. I’ve got to get to the bottom of it. I can’t have this happen to Jane and me.” So you hightail it out of the church after her. There she is over at her car. You go over and you say, “Jane! What’s wrong? I was so glad to see you home again that I rushed over to see you after church, but when I called to you, you stuck your nose in the air and left. What’s wrong?”
Perhaps Jane’s response will be something like this: “Oh no! Mary, I didn’t even hear or see you! you see, I caught a bad cold on my trip abroad, and the pastor preached forever today, and I left my tissues in the car, and I thought for sure I was going to drip all over my new dress and my Bible. That’s why I put my nose back and rushed out here to get those tissues. I was so preoccupied with all that I didn’t see or hear you.”
“Stupid illustration,”you say.
Yes, but I chose it because I have known case after case where friendships have been destroyed over misunderstandings just as stupid as that. Don’t you see? You are obligated to go because the brother or sister may not know that he (she) stepped on your toes. It may all be a misunderstanding. So, the rule is:
The one with the sore toes goes because he’s the one who always knows.
Rebuking—What It Means Here
It is important here to distinguish between things that differ. There are two words in the New Testament for rebuking. One means “to so prosecute a case against another that he is convicted of the crime of which he was accused.” Needless to say, that is not the word used here.
The other, which Jesus uses in this connection, means “to rebuke tentatively.” That is to say, when you go, you must do so with caution. You go with the facts as you see them. You present the facts. Then you wait for any possible forthcoming explanation that might clear up a misunderstanding or that might mitigate the situation. If there is none, the offense has been committed, and if your brother or sister repents, you are to forgive him or her. If he refuses, that may possibly lead to informal (and eventually formal) church discipline. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Right now, it is important to stress that when you go, you give the brother or sister an opportunity to explain any misunderstanding, if he or she can.
So much for the rheumatism; now for the gout: “If he repents, forgive him.”
“That’s the gout? I thought you said that the second half of verse 3 was more difficult than the first. I certainly don’t see how rebuking him is easier than forgiving him if he repents.”
Well, there is a good reason for Jesus’ warning. If you let your guard down, you could easily be lulled into thinking so. But let me sketch a brief scenario for you.
There you are once again, simply standing there surveying the scene, doing no one any harm, provoking no one to wrath or anger, when all of a sudden, out of a clear blue sky, “pow!” Literally or figuratively (probably the latter), your brother hits you right on the old beezer! There you are, nourishing and cherishing your sore nose when here he comes, hat in hand, shuffling up.
He says, “You know what I did?”
You reply, “I certainly do; why’ dja do it?”
“Well,” he says, “you see, I’ve got this terrible temper, and I got upset, and you were the closest one around, so I… Oh, I’m sorry. It was nothing personal. Will you forgive me?”
“Yeah,” you say, molding your nose back into shape, “but don’t do it again.”
Five minutes later, just when your nose is beginning to feel a little bit better “pow!” He does it again! And again he comes, hat in hand, shuffling toward you. “Do you know what I did?”
“I sure do. Why’ dja do it? I thought you said you weren’t going to do that again!”
“Well, you see, I’ve got this temper, and—”
“I know about your temper.”
“Well, you can’t do much to overcome a temper like this in five minutes! Will you forgive me?”
“Yes, But don’t do it again!”
Not once, not twice, but seven times in the same day (literally or figuratively) he socks you on the old beezer. And seven times, he returns asking for forgiveness. What will you do?
Well, there are many who will say, “Once, yes; twice, maybe, three times—no way.”
But Jesus said, “And if he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him” (Luke 17:4). That’s gout; it hurts!
Now, of course, by “seven times” Jesus didn’t mean only seven times; he just rounded it off with that number, meaning, in effect, “as often as it happens that way, you must forgive him.”
The apostles understood well enough that this was “gout” “ Then the apostles said to the Lord, ‘Whew! Increase our faith’” (Luke 17:5). Of course, there was no “whew!” because the Greeks didn’t have a word for it. But that certainly expresses their attitude. They were saying, “If we have to do that, Lord, we’re going to need more faith!”
That was a pretty good response on their part, wasn’t it?
No! It wasn’t. It was a pious cop-out! Look how Jesus handled it: “But the Lord said, ‘If you have faith like a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree “Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,” and it would obey you” (Luke 17:6). What was He saying? He was saying, “I told you to do something and here you are making excuses why you can’t. You say, When I get more faith, I’ll obey. But not before.’I tell you it isn’t a matter of how much faith you have. If you have any faith at all, even a smidgen the size of a mustard seed, you could do wonders with it. Don’t tell Me you need more faith. This is a matter of obedience, not a matter of the amount of faith you have.”
So, the excuse “when I get more faith” is shattered.
But notice also how Jesus structured His example: “If he sins…seven times a day… and returns seven times saying ‘I repent.’” that wording eliminates a second common excuse for not obeying.
People will, say, “But if he hits me in the nose (literally or figuratively) seven times a day, his repentance can’t be sincere; after all, ‘by their fruit shall you know them.’ I would forgive him if I saw any fruit appropriate to repentance.”
But when did you ever see a watermelon grow in a day? A cantaloupe? Even a grape? Jesus structures His example in such a way that no such excuse could be forth coming. Fruit takes time to grow. It takes cultivation, work, etc. And, as Jesus set it up, the man comes “saying” he is repentant. In love, “believing all things, hoping all things,” you must take his naked word for it. No, you may not say, “When I see the fruit, I’ll forgive.” The second excuse has evaporated.
But before the third is brought to bear, Jesus tells a story:
Which of you, if he had a slave plowing or tending sheep, would say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come and recline at the table right away’? Wouldn’t he say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and when you are dressed, serve me until I have finished eating and drinking, and then you can eat and drink? Does he thank the slave because he did what he was commanded? So you too, when you do everything you are commanded, say, ’We are unprofitable slaves; we have simply done what we ought to have done.’” (Luke 17:7–10)
Picture this slave, who has been working under a hot Palestinian sun all day long, coming home. He’s tired thirsty, hungry, sweaty, and smelly. Does his master size up his condition and say to him, “Go take a shower, and get something to eat”? No, not on your life. What he says is, “Go get those sweaty, smelly clothes off, take a shower, and then go into the kitchen and fix my dinner. And don’t you take a bit of food until I have finished eating.” Perhaps, the master even posts a guard to see that his orders are followed.
Now here is this servant throwing golden lumps of butter into a pot of mashed potatoes. There are the green peas bubbling on the stove, and the aroma of roast beef is filling the air. Can’t you see him? There he stands, his own stomach growling, his mouth watering, but he can’t touch a bite of the food. By the time he brings the food out, it doesn’t even look like food anymore. It looks like mountains of potatoes, lakes of gravy, fields of green peas, and forests of roast beef reaching into the sky. And he has to stand there, with a towel hanging over one arm, waiting for his master to finish toying with the last pea on the end of his fork. Then he has to bring in the dessert! But instead of dessert, it looks like Niagaras of whipped cream cascading over cliffs of apricots!
Ok, got the picture so far? Now think about it. Everything in that slave says, “Eat it yourself; forget what that guy out there has said.” But he can’t. He must obey his master against all his feelings. He cannot say, “If I feel like it I will obey.” And, Jesus makes the point that even then, he hasn’t done anything exceptional, but only what he is supposed to do.
So, now three excuses have been demolished. You can’t beg off from Christ’s commands regarding forgiveness by simply saying, “When I get more faith,” or by saying, “When I see the fruit,” or by saying, “When I feel like it, I will forgive.”
Adams, J. E. (1989). From forgiven to forgiving
I wish I could share more from this book because it's so very good! In the next part, he explains why we can't go by our feelings, and again does so in such a way that it's unforgettable and makes a whole lot of sense. I heartily recommend this book for everyone because love and forgiveness is a way of life for the christian and not something we can every put off. Here's a link to it on Amazon for the paperback version:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/1879737124?keywords=From%20forgiven%20to%20forgiving%20%20Adams&qid=1456408576&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
You can get the e-book version for Logos here: www.logos.com/product/2779/from-forgiven-to-forgiving
Here's what it says about the book:
What do the following statements about forgiveness have in common?
·Forgiveness is obtained through apologizing.
·The best thing you can do is "forgive and forget".
·You aren't forgiven until you feel forgiven.
·Even if someone hasn't asked for forgiveness, you can still forgive them.
These statements all represent popular misconceptions about true biblical forgiveness. Because forgiveness plays such a major role in our relationships with other people, it's critical to have a clear idea of God's plan for forgiving and being forgiven. Distortions in His plan can lead to twisted thinking and further pain for those struggling with forgiveness issues.
In this book, Dr. Jay Adams carefully explores all dimensions of the process of forgiveness. He can help you understand biblical forgiveness from beginning to end, and apply that understanding to everyday situations ranging from forgiving your straying spouse or prodigal child--and being forgiven by them as well.
If you have experienced the incredible power of God's forgiveness in you life, read this book and see how forgiveness' power can change your life as you relate to others.
!!
