EPHESIANS 4: 32

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

To Ponder

When thinking about this verse, what stood out to me is no ambiguity here, no complexity to hide behind, no need for deeper study before we can do anything. The instruction is simple and clear. The question, as always, is whether we are willing. Kindness is a choice often made in moments when something less kind would feel far more satisfying. Compassion is an orientation of the heart, the decision to let another person's pain actually matter to us, rather than keeping it at a safe distance. And forgiveness, perhaps the most demanding of the three, is the daily, act of releasing what we have every right to hold on to.

All of this is done because: ‘just as in Christ God forgave you’ This is not a comparison; it is a foundation. We are not asked to forgive because it is good for us, or because the other person deserves it, or because it will make relationships easier. We are asked to forgive because we have been forgiven greatly.

When forgiveness feels impossible, we are not told to look inward to summon the strength. We are pointed to the cross, to the grace already given, to the kindness of a God who did not treat us as our sins deserved. That is both our model and our motivation.

You and I already know what to do. The only question is whether we willing to l let what God has done for you flow freely through you to someone else.

Prayer

Father, you have made it so clear: be kind, be compassionate, forgive. And yet I know how often I have chosen the opposite: sharpness instead of kindness, indifference instead of compassion, the quiet satisfaction of holding a grudge instead of the freedom of letting it go.

Bring to mind today anyone I have been unkind to, anyone whose pain I have dismissed, anyone I have refused to forgive. Give me the grace to respond differently  not because it comes naturally, but because your grace in me makes it possible. Let your grace not stop with me today. Let it move through me in the way I speak, the way I respond, and the way I choose to release rather than hold on. Thank you that because of Christ, I have been forgiven everything. May I never forget it — especially in the moments when forgiving someone else feels like the hardest thing in the world.

In Jesus name. Amen

Today's devotion written by Pr Nich Kitchen, LifeWay Epping