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Описание: #earlwoodanglican #brendanmclaughlin #acts2

Acts 2: 42 ̶47

God, the redeemer and the forgiveness

Since God stands outside of time, he knew humans were going to rebel before he even
began creating. That means God also knew what it would cost him to redeem a people
for himself. Yet he went through with creation anyway. Why? Because for some
reason, we’re worth it.
What this shows is that forgiveness is part of who God is. This is why it is unsurprising that
God wants his creatures to forgive those who have sinned against them. Yet as anyone
who has been hurt knows, forgiveness is not easy.
To begin with, forgiveness means absorbing a debt. When someone steals money or
possessions from us, the debt they owe can be calculated in monetary terms. But what
about when someone takes our trust, safety, health or dignity? To forgive such a debt
means absorbing the emotional pain they have inflicted. This means treating the
person as though they had never hurt us in the first place.
The reason God calls us to forgive is to make the perpetrator pay their ‘debt’
ends up making us the very monster we claim they are. It simply continues the cycle
of pain and hurt. Furthermore, it fills us with bitterness, which a wise man once said,
‘is like drinking poison and hoping the other person gets sick’. Forgiveness liberates
us from the effect the perpetrator continues to have on us.
So how are we able to do this God-like thing, giventhat it is so difficult? The secret is to
stop focusing on how they’ve hurt us and focus instead on how much we’ve been
forgiven by God. When it sinks in that we’ve been forgiven a B$20 debt by God, it
makes forgiving a $10,000 debt from others a little easier.

Brendan McLaughlin