{"id":808,"date":"2015-12-05T03:50:31","date_gmt":"2015-12-05T03:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=808"},"modified":"2015-12-07T18:53:56","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T18:53:56","slug":"to-love-and-to-forgive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/?p=808","title":{"rendered":"To Love and To Forgive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love is a choice. \u00a0God is love. \u00a0He is without sin. \u00a0God is never wrong. \u00a0His choices are always right. \u00a0He is always perfect and true. \u00a0We are not.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Scripture, God makes the statement;\u00a0I have loved Jacob but Esau have I hated.<\/em>\u00a0 The simple difference between the two brothers is God\u2019s choice. \u00a0God chose Jacob over Esau.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jacob, as crooked and self-serving as he was, still recognized the spiritual value of the birthright that belonged to Esau as the firstborn. \u00a0Esau despised his birthright. \u00a0He sold it for a bowl of stew. \u00a0God chose Jacob to receive His blessing. \u00a0God loved Jacob.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forgiveness is something that can only be given to the guilty. \u00a0If you\u2019ve never done anything wrong, you will not able to experience forgiveness. \u00a0When God forgives, He removes our sin as far from us as the east is from the west. \u00a0He remembers our iniquity no more. \u00a0If we know God, we are to forgive. \u00a0He that cannot or will not forgive, will not be forgiven.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At another time and in another place, not long after becoming a Christian, God gave a young man an opportunity to help a friend and neighbor. \u00a0This new Christian had just come home from work one evening when he encountered a friend and neighbor coming from his parked vehicle. \u00a0The neighbor was crying.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Knowing something was not right and being concerned for him, the young man asked what was wrong. \u00a0His neighbor shared with him a gut wrenching story. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The neighbor\u2019s “<\/strong>best friend” had called the neighbor\u2019s wife and told her that she was the one he had always loved. \u00a0Foolishly she agreed to meet him at a motel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overcome by grief and guilt, she confessed to her husband that evening what she had done. \u00a0Enraged, he had ripped off his wedding ring, thrown it at her and left. \u00a0It was then that the young Christian met him outside.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The young Christian had no counseling experience. \u00a0Having just gotten right with God himself, the only thing he knew to tell his neighbor was that he should forgive his wife. \u00a0After what seemed to them like hours of walking up and down the road, the neighbor finally decided that he would forgive her.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the days and weeks following, there was never a happier couple with their little one. \u00a0The neighbor took his wife and child, moved to another part of the country and their family grew.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What made this possible? \u00a0Well, they were both Christians. \u00a0She made a terrible mistake, but she could not continue in it. \u00a0He was devastated, but he was able to forgive as he had been forgiven. <\/strong><\/p>\n

They both chose to do the right thing. \u00a0She chose to repent and confess, even though it was a terrible thing to acknowledge. \u00a0He chose to forgive and to love her even though he was devastated by her actions. \u00a0God can and will bless obedience and faith.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Incidentally, the young Christian’s neighbor later told him that when they met outside the apartment that evening, he had just put a gun in his car, and he was going to visit his \u201cbest friend\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

God likely saved a man\u2019s life that night, as well as a father, a marriage, and a family, with her choice to repent, and with his choice to forgive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Love never fails.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Love is a choice. \u00a0God is love. \u00a0He is without sin. \u00a0God is never wrong. \u00a0His choices are always right. \u00a0He is always perfect and true. \u00a0We are not. In Scripture, God makes the statement;\u00a0I have loved Jacob but Esau have I hated.\u00a0 The simple difference between the two brothers is God\u2019s choice. \u00a0God chose … Continue reading To Love and To Forgive<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=808"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":821,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808\/revisions\/821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadinghorsestowater.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}