Faith In The City

I read something this morning that changed how I think about forgiveness completely.Ephesians 4:32 says to be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.Today, listening to Scott Savage break down the reading in the Bible Recap, something clicked that never had before.He talked about a time in his own life when someone betrayed him and he genuinely did not feel like he had the capacity to forgive them. What he came to understand is that we are not called to forgive based on how much forgiveness we personally have in us. We are called to forgive based on how much God has already forgiven us, and then pass that forward. His forgiveness was never meant to stop with us. It is a reservoir. We are supposed to keep giving it away.As a Cancer, I am the type to hold onto hurt and bitterness longer than I should. That has always been true for me. I have really struggled in the past to let things go when people hurt me.What has changed is not that I finally figured out some perfect formula. It is that I understand something now I did not understand before. Holding onto hurt only hurts me. The peace I have now, the peace that goes beyond understanding, does not leave room for me to keep replaying what someone did to me. I don't want anything in my spirit that would keep me from God, His love, and eternal life.I am not saying this is easy. I am saying I have learned to forgive quicker and release faster, mostly because I keep turning my focus back to the joy and the peace I already have. When you spend your day saying thank you God, thank you for life, thank you for another chance, there just is not a lot of room left over for bitterness.I think this is true for grace and mercy too, not just forgiveness. It is really about how we treat people in general. Scripture is not quiet on this. It talks again and again about how we treat the undervalued, the oppressed, the widows, the orphans. I think the grace and mercy God gives me every single day is something I am supposed to take and hand to the next person. Wanting God to keep extending that to me is part of what has made me quicker to extend it to others.A devotional called Love in Action reinforced this same idea today, pointing to 1 John 4:11, 1 Peter 3:8, and Luke 6:36. All three talk about being sympathetic, compassionate, and humble with each other because of how God first loved us. The devotional made a point that stuck with me. If we fail to love people well, we also fail to show them God's love. Compassion is not a nice extra. It is one of the main ways we communicate who God is to somebody else.If you want a picture of what this actually looks like in real life, read through the story of Jesus in Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John. That is the blueprint for compassion, kindness, and forgiveness.Here is where I want to leave you. Think about the people in your life right now. Who could use some compassion from you? Who do you need to forgive? Who needs your encouragement or your kindness today? Then go do it. Show them. Let them see God through how you treat them, how you love them, how you encourage them, and how you make them believe they can do it too.To me, that is the whole foundation of discipleship. It is the road to eternal life.Peace, Love and Joy always. Infinite Faith and Favor | kharisco.com

I have started reading the Bible all the way through more times than I can count. Most of those attempts stopped somewhere in Genesis. So when I tell you I have read this part before and never seen it the way I am seeing it now, that is saying something. Adam and Eve ate the fruit they were told not to eat. The moment they did, they knew they were naked, and they hid. God comes looking for them and asks how they knew they were naked in the first place. They were hiding to cover themselves, which if you think about it, is the opposite of what we should do when we mess up. Hiding feels natural. Running toward God does not. But running toward him is what he is actually asking for. Here is the part that got me. God does not judge them for it. He does not chastise them or tell them how wrong they were. He asks one question, and then he makes coverings for them. The word for what he made is kethonet. Royal robes. He could have given them something basic. They had nothing to offer, no skill to make a covering themselves. They had been walking around enjoying the garden, not preparing for this. God did not make them earn it or figure it out. He gave them his best while they were standing there in the aftermath of their biggest mistake. That is what real love looks like. Not overlooking the sin. Responding to it with patience, abundance, and kindness instead of condemnation. This is exactly what 1 John 1:9 is telling us. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Faithful. Not occasionally generous. Faithful, every time we come to him honest about what we have done. He knew we would sin before we ever did. That is why he sent his son. Christ took the weight so we would not have to carry shame or guilt as a permanent address. We are free. And that freedom is not a free pass to keep doing the same thing. It is supposed to push us to live different, to walk in who he made us to be, knowing we are forgiven and chasing righteousness anyway. So if there is something in your head telling you that you are too far gone, that you have messed up too many times, that is not God talking. Let it go. Lean into him. Let him purify you from it. He already made your covering. He made it royal, not because you earned it, but because that is who he is. Take a minute today. Whatever it is you are carrying, forgive yourself for it. Ask God to forgive you. Forgive the people who wronged you too, because we cannot ask for grace we are not willing to extend. Then thank him. Thank him for the forgiveness, for making you his child, for the freedom you already have. Ask him for the courage to actually walk in it. Peace, Love and Joy always,Tanya / InfiniteFaithandFavor.com #InfiniteFaithandFavor #ComeAsYouAre #GraceNotGrind #ChristianWomen #FaithInAction

Matthew 22:36-40. Someone asked Jesus which commandment in the entire law was the greatest, and He did not make them wait for the answer. Love God with everything you are. And love the people around you the same way you love yourself. That is it. That is the whole thing.The Bible keeps coming back to this. John 13:35 says people will know we belong to Jesus by how we love one another. 1 Peter 4:8 says love covers a multitude of sins. Over and over, scripture points us back to the same place.Love is the center of what it means to follow Jesus.And one of the hardest ways to live that out is forgiving people who hurt you. I want to be clear that I am not talking about easy forgiveness, the kind that does not cost you anything. I am talking about the kind where you genuinely feel the weight of what someone did and you choose love anyway. That is where the rubber meets the road.I have struggled with that. I will not pretend I have not. Forgiving people who I feel hurt me has been a real challenge. It is less of a challenge than it used to be, and I give God credit for that, but I am not going to stand here and tell you it has been simple.Here is what I think though. If you nail loving people the way God loves you, I think you are golden.Not because you have perfect church attendance. Not because you can recite chapter and verse. Not because your career is impressive or your family looks right from the outside. God is not keeping score on any of that. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is generous. Love does not judge. And if that is not what is coming out of us, none of the other stuff is going to matter the way we think it does.So today, ask God to show you how He wants you to love the people in your life. Ask Him to fill your heart with a deep love for others. Not a love you manufacture on your own, because that runs out. A love He grows in you.That is the assignment.Peace, Love and Joy always, TanyaInfiniteFaithandFavor.com