Remitted part 4
Our key verse for this Rant series, John 20:23, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained," is the only verse in the King James Version of the Bible that has the words "remit" or "remitted" in it. The only time Jesus mentioned it. And I've heard that when a theme is repeated over and over in the Bible it is important. Which makes sense. Repitition is the best way to learn something. But I also think that if it made the cut, so to speak, it's pretty important too. I said all that to say this: You don't always know or understand the power you have. Look at Proverbs 18:21, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." Or Ecclesiastes 8:4, "Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?" We are kings and priests, right? Equipped and empowered to rule and reign on the earth. What we do matters. What we SAY matters. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God. Jesus Himself said, "...Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (John 5:19). It all comes down from the Father. He fills us up with everything we need. He has forgiven our sins. That's a done deal. And now, because of that, we can remit each other's sins. We can judge that righteous judgment. Execute the judgment that was handed down. We can bring what is already true... to life. By knowing it and believing it. By receiving it and releasing it. We can take the ball, so to speak, and run with it. God forgave us. Now we are forgiven. Now we can forgive each other. We can stop holding grudges. We can stop using people's mistakes against them. And, remember, I put the caution out there the other day that once someone has burned you... you don't have to punish them... but you don't have to keep touching that fire either. You can love people from a distance sometimes. Turning the other cheek means not retaliating, not standing there and letting someone slap the mess out of you. If someone keeps slapping you, you should probably move out of range. But I digress. Today is about filling ourselves with what we've already been filled with so that it overflows out of us. Giving what we've got instead of trying to get something we think we haven't got. Remitting people's sins--laying them aside, letting go of them--instead of retaining them. So that both we ourselves, and the ones who have wronged us can be free. We already are free. That happened 2,000 years ago on the cross. Done deal. But if we want to experience that freedom we have to use that freedom. Share that freedom. Give that freedom away. Love is giving, right? Giving what you've got. Letting what's inside come out. Loving people no matter what. Giving them grace to grow. A chance to learn from their mistakes. I think it's important. I think it's a big deal. We have the power to free people--and free ourselves--because Jesus has already freed us. We ought to use that power!