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This early word (06/08/2003) is included in the Marriage Files because it takes up the text, Ephesians 4:26-32, about Forgiveness, and forgiveness is crucial to what makes marriage work. I quote Marlene Dietrich in saying, “Once you forgive your man, you must not re-heat his sins for breakfast,” which highlights the hard work in resolutely offering grace to our spouses. How to do this? Sometimes it seems impossible.
We need a tremendous surge of spiritual power to obey the Scriptures in practicing abundant forgiveness. The secret is that it is always tied up with being forgiven.
There are other things to say about the process of forgiveness, of taking time, of the matter of truly serious betrayal, etc. But this sermon gets at the heart of what God wants for us.
If you need a second dose of exhortation about this (and I know I do), I include below a second rendition of this word, twelve years later (3/08/2015). Not only is my voice lower, but I give further elaboration, geographically, of the obsession of Joshua. The apostle calls up the Old Testament soldier to illustrate the kind of pursuit to destroy bitterness to which God calls his people. We hear the same message, but emphasizing church relations, which was the need of the hour.