Forgiveness

"All the prophets testify about [Jesus] that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."--Acts 10.43
Forgiveness is foundational for the Christian life: God forgiving us, us forgiving others, and others forgiving us. The longer I live, the more incredible this truth becomes to me. Forgiveness is really at the heart of the Christian faith! It is a miracle and yet, the very cornerstone of a life of following Jesus.
As I reflected on the miracle of forgiveness this morning, I found this:

"ALL HAVE SINNED AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD--ST. PAUL'S LETTER TO THE ROMANS
THE HATRED . . . which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class; FATHER, FORGIVE.
THE GREED . . . which exploits the labors of people and lays waste to the earth; FATHER, FORGIVE.
OUR ENVY . . . of the welfare and happiness of others; FATHER FORGIVE
OUR INDIFFERENCE . . . to the plight of the homeless and the refugee;
FATHER, FORGIVE.
THE LUST . . . which uses for ignoble ends, the bodies of men and women;
FATHER, FORGIVE
THE PRIDE . . . which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God;
FATHER, FORGIVE.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (St. Paul to the Ephesians)"
---The above prayer was at the altar of Coventry Cathedral

qualities to live by

2Peter 1.5-8: "For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
In our world of information (and information overload), sometimes, it gets difficult to discern the movement of God in our midst. It's often easier to suppose where God is not than where God is.
The Apostle Peter gives a great laundry list of qualities that go along with our faith in the passage above. Things like, "goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, mutual affection, love." With these, you can't go wrong. Where these are active through the Spirit of God, we can know that God is active and alive in our world today.
As I scan this list and think about their meaning, I am challenged to assure that I am walking with Jesus throughout the day, not just at set times of prayer, but throughout the whole day. Chances are, if we are walking with Jesus throughout the day, these qualities just start "showing up" in our lives.
I invite you to scan this list and ask Jesus to work these qualities in you today! As Peter writes, these are the kinds of qualities that make us effective and fruitful as followers of Jesus.