God’s Generous Love

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled, God's Generous Love, was written by Patricia Raban. He's known as the military man whose commencement speech about making your bed every day got 100 million views online. But retired Navy SEAL, Admiral William McRaven, shares another lesson just as compelling. During a military operation in the Middle East, McRaven has sadly acknowledged that several members of an innocent family were mistakenly killed. Believing the family was owed a sincere apology, McRaven dared to ask the heartbroken father for forgiveness. I'm a soldier, McRaven told him through a translator.

But I have children as well, and my heart grieves for you. The man's response? He granted McRaven the generous gift of forgiveness.

As the man's surviving son told him, Thank you very much. We will not keep anything in our heart against you. The Apostle Paul wrote of such generous grace in Colossians 3, As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. He knew that life would test us in various ways, so he instructed believers in the church at Colossae, Forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.

Forgive as the Lord forgave you. What enables us to have such compassionate, forgiving hearts? God's generous love. As Paul concluded, Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Colossians chapter 3 verses 12 through 17. Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you, and over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful, let the message of Christ dwell among you richly, as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Let's pray. Forgiving, Father, when we experience deep hurt, we can feel justified in withholding forgiveness, but the longer we hold on to it, the deeper bitterness is rooted in our hearts. Lord, please heal our broken hearts when we've been hurt, and grant us your generous will to forgive. Thank you, Father. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. My name is Joyce Dinkins, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.