Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Emptying Your Trash Basket - #8273

Monday, May 18, 2009

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There’s plenty of junk e-mail–spam, they call it. But sometimes you get a gem in some of the creative stuff that friends forward to you. I got a child’s version of the Lord’s Prayer that both amused and even enlightened me; especially when this little boy got to the part where many Christians pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Except this boy heard it this way: “Forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets.”

I’m Ron Hutchcraft, and what a picture–asking God to forgive us for all the trash we’ve committed against Him and receiving that forgiveness because of what Jesus did on the cross. But what about those who’ve put trash in your basket?

We’re much more conscious of their sins than our own sins, aren’t we? But God’s command is clear: “Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13 ). In one sentence, God literally wipes out every excuse I might have for holding onto that sin against me. They don’t deserve to be forgiven. Well, neither did I. If you only knew what they did. Well, if you only know what I’ve done to break Jesus’ heart, but He forgave me.

So the decisive question is this: what right do I the forgiven have to refuse to forgive? To forgive is to release everything they’ve put in my trash basket to God; to choose to treat them not as they treated me but as Jesus treated me. Yeah, that’s the prayer, “Forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our basket.”

Hey, for more spiritual encouragement, I hope you’ll visit us at our website—AlifeThatMatters.org.

This radio program references: Colossians 3:13