As I pondered upon how disciple Peter said to the Jesus, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (MATTHEW 18:21-22, NIV), we see how Peter and Judas might have quarreled with each other. And, the rabbis suggested three times. Indeed, the disciples of Jesus were prone to quarrel. Homeless and jobless, they travelled and lived together in close quarters. And, they argued about which of them was the greatest. They vied for privilege and position in the coming kingdom (MATTHEW 18:1; MATTHEW 20:21; MARK 9:34; 10:37, NIV).
Yet, Jesus’ answer dismisses all petty notions about how people take advantage of us and walking all over us. Nor does he mean that we can stop forgiving after counting off 77 or 490 times. As the apostle Paul, “Love keeps no record of wrongs” (1 CORINTHIANS 13:5, NIV), truly, Jesus expects a certain quality of forgiveness from us that is radical, infinite, divine. As the apostle Paul also said, “Forgive as God has forgiven you” (EPHESIANS 4:32, NIV) and how Peter needed this divine forgiveness, where he denies Jesus three times. And, Jesus also needed to extend unconditional forgiveness to those who crucified Him on the cross. Indeed, community is not possible without the willingness to forgive one another seventy-seven times. Forgiveness is the cement of community life. Forgiveness holds us together through good and bad times, and it allows us to grow in mutual love (HENRI NOUWEN) as highlighted this point inside the 40 Days (2019) devotional text.
Today, I make the choice to overthrow Satan’s evil ploy by choosing to forgive as Christ has forgiven me, as I resist the temptation to feed on malicious words and deeds + as I move on for my own good, for the sake of the Church, for God’s glory. I pray for shepherd leaders of the church to guard themselves from temptations as Satan is all out to destroy the Jesus community from within through one unforgiving relationship at a time, and for them to obey Christ’s call to forgive radically and infinitely as I did my today’s meditation.
Hence, I ask God to forgive us for any wrong attitudes and actions which might have tainted our witness and strained our relationships with pre-believing family, friends, and neighbours where there are old hurts or new conflicts between us & them, for us to forgive them and be forgiven by them every day, as we honour Jesus in our lives daily.
I also pray for us to continue our relational evangelism every day in every sphere across Singapore, even though the Celebration of Hope rallies have ended; but the glorious work has only just begun (BISHOP RENNIS PONNIAH) as he highlighted this point inside the 40 Days (2019) devotional text.
As Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (MATTHEW 5:9, NIV);
May our forgiveness be so real, so radical, so refreshing, that the unsaved around us will be deeply moved to follow Jesus.
Profile Background:
Jeremy Koh is a disabled graduate from Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore – formerly known as Spastic Children Association (1987–1997). He graduated with Certificates in Microsoft Office Skills & a HR Administrator Graduate (CHRA) under Human Capital Singapore–SGEnable Collaboration of Partnership – HCS HR PowerBank (7th Dec 2021 to 3rd June 2022) | Former Project Assistant/Email Marketing Consultant |A Connecter in ServeHope Pte Ltd & GrowthBeans Team in Savior-Asia Consulting Pte Ltd | A KeyGuard Specialist @(these)abilites Pte Ltd handling all KeyGuard Operations for 10 months in World United College South East Asia (Tampines Branch) | an Executive Assistant with Vision Strategy Storytelling (3 months, Aug to Oct 2017); A Founder in the ground up initiative project called – Project Stories for LIFE (Affiliated with Youth Corps Singapore, a former member of the Special Needs Cluster) |A PwD Advocate – a representing voice of the Disabled Community to the public today.
Prayer Response to this featured article:
Jesus, enable us to practice the Golden Rule – do to others as you would have others do to you (GOOD NEIGHBOUR DAY 2019).
(Written by Jeremy Koh, 16th July 2019)
Yet, Jesus’ answer dismisses all petty notions about how people take advantage of us and walking all over us. Nor does he mean that we can stop forgiving after counting off 77 or 490 times. As the apostle Paul, “Love keeps no record of wrongs” (1 CORINTHIANS 13:5, NIV), truly, Jesus expects a certain quality of forgiveness from us that is radical, infinite, divine. As the apostle Paul also said, “Forgive as God has forgiven you” (EPHESIANS 4:32, NIV) and how Peter needed this divine forgiveness, where he denies Jesus three times. And, Jesus also needed to extend unconditional forgiveness to those who crucified Him on the cross. Indeed, community is not possible without the willingness to forgive one another seventy-seven times. Forgiveness is the cement of community life. Forgiveness holds us together through good and bad times, and it allows us to grow in mutual love (HENRI NOUWEN) as highlighted this point inside the 40 Days (2019) devotional text.
Today, I make the choice to overthrow Satan’s evil ploy by choosing to forgive as Christ has forgiven me, as I resist the temptation to feed on malicious words and deeds + as I move on for my own good, for the sake of the Church, for God’s glory. I pray for shepherd leaders of the church to guard themselves from temptations as Satan is all out to destroy the Jesus community from within through one unforgiving relationship at a time, and for them to obey Christ’s call to forgive radically and infinitely as I did my today’s meditation.
Hence, I ask God to forgive us for any wrong attitudes and actions which might have tainted our witness and strained our relationships with pre-believing family, friends, and neighbours where there are old hurts or new conflicts between us & them, for us to forgive them and be forgiven by them every day, as we honour Jesus in our lives daily.
I also pray for us to continue our relational evangelism every day in every sphere across Singapore, even though the Celebration of Hope rallies have ended; but the glorious work has only just begun (BISHOP RENNIS PONNIAH) as he highlighted this point inside the 40 Days (2019) devotional text.
As Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (MATTHEW 5:9, NIV);
May our forgiveness be so real, so radical, so refreshing, that the unsaved around us will be deeply moved to follow Jesus.
Profile Background:
Jeremy Koh is a disabled graduate from Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore – formerly known as Spastic Children Association (1987–1997). He graduated with Certificates in Microsoft Office Skills & a HR Administrator Graduate (CHRA) under Human Capital Singapore–SGEnable Collaboration of Partnership – HCS HR PowerBank (7th Dec 2021 to 3rd June 2022) | Former Project Assistant/Email Marketing Consultant |A Connecter in ServeHope Pte Ltd & GrowthBeans Team in Savior-Asia Consulting Pte Ltd | A KeyGuard Specialist @(these)abilites Pte Ltd handling all KeyGuard Operations for 10 months in World United College South East Asia (Tampines Branch) | an Executive Assistant with Vision Strategy Storytelling (3 months, Aug to Oct 2017); A Founder in the ground up initiative project called – Project Stories for LIFE (Affiliated with Youth Corps Singapore, a former member of the Special Needs Cluster) |A PwD Advocate – a representing voice of the Disabled Community to the public today.
Prayer Response to this featured article:
Jesus, enable us to practice the Golden Rule – do to others as you would have others do to you (GOOD NEIGHBOUR DAY 2019).
(Written by Jeremy Koh, 16th July 2019)
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