Ephesians 4:32

            “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Are you having trouble forgiving someone? I never struggled with forgiveness until it was a Pastor who did the hurting. Here in our Verse today we see three steps to help us achieve the goal of forgiving others as God in Christ forgave us. The First step is being kind to one another, “even as God in Christ forgave you.” Did you deserve forgiveness from God for the way you were living your sinful lifestyle? God was being kind to you, even gracious to you. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). The second step is to be tenderhearted, which in Greek, means “pitiful”, “even as God in Christ forgave you.”. We know God had pity on us, and He didn’t do it grudgingly, for “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Not only did He forgive our past sins, and our present sins but also in our future sins. Let me illustrate it this way. Christ poured out His precious Holy blood in measure to you. The first measure was for your sins past, before you got saved. The second measure is for your present sins as you grow in your faith. The third measure is for any sins you will commit in the future, “For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20). The Fourth measure is for you to use in forgiving others, “Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful”, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven… For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:36;37c&38c), even as God in Christ forgave you.