Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Thomas Brooks
Devotional: 4 Ways to Live Out This Quote In Your Life
This quote reminds me of Jesus’ parable where He mentioned that a servants was asking a king for mercy. He owed the king some money and the King forgave him of his debt. The servant was of course very happy. Shortly after that, the servant was approached by someone that owed him money and asked that the servant give mercy regarding his debt, but the servant wouldn’t hear of it. The servant was very harsh to the person that owed him money. When the king heard about this, he had the thrown in jail.
The lesson being, if you want to receive mercy, you should want to show mercy to others as well. Salvation only comes through faith. This is true.
Be Ready to Forgive
We’d like to say that we are very forgiving. However, if you really dig deep enough, in many cases we don’t really forgive. In many cases, we choose to ignore, or in other cases we mentally block of somebody and say, “Well, I’ve moved on.”
In reality, forgiveness is all about reconciliation. When you read the Bible cover to cover and you come across that word forgiveness, the proper context for forgiveness is reconciliation. In other words, you have to fully reconcile with the person that you are forgiving. Simply saying, “Well, I’ve forgotten about it,” and “I’ve moved on,” isn’t enough.
Be Ready to Forget
Another key definition of forgiveness is that it is hand in hand with forgetting. In the Bible, where a prophet relates how God sees King David, there was no mention of David’s sin of adultery. God forgot. That is the measurement of forgiveness.
Be Ready to Give
Another way you can be kind to yourself by being kind to others is by always being ready to give. The interesting thing about human giving is that we give with the expectation that we will get something in return. That’s not real giving.
The biblical definition of giving is when there’s no expectation of return. Either you give to people who have no capacity of giving back, or you just don’t expect anything in return. That is the real definition of real giving.
Be Ready to Serve
Serving means humbling yourself. Serving means putting the needs of other people ahead of yours. If you want to be kind to yourself by being kind to others, serve them.
Conclusion
You have to understand that all of these really lead to one ultimate kindness. When you are kind to others, as mentioned above, you live out the faith that leads to the only real reward. You are only saved by faith, and salvation is the only reward worth having in this universe.
