Grace and ForgivenessSmakprov

## Reaffirm Your Love The apostle Paul understood the gift of God’s grace in forgiveness. God met with Paul and challenged him about the way he was persecuting Christians, and, as a result, Paul was awakened to the wrongfulness of his own heart and actions. God forgave him and welcomed Paul into a friendship with Him and helped the Christians to welcome Paul as a fellow believer. I haven’t killed people, but I have experienced having my heart awakened to the things I have done that have hurt others and hurt God’s heart. I have experienced the grace (the undeserved kindness) of God’s forgiveness, and the forgiveness of others. The thankfulness I have felt as a result of grace-filled forgiveness has meant I want to offer others who have hurt me this same experience. Paul also wanted to extend gracious forgiveness to others, and we see an example of that in 2 Corinthians 2:7–8. Someone had questioned Paul’s authority and caused hurt. The person must have realized that they were wrong and communicated their sorrow at the pain caused. Paul asks the Corinthians to forgive him in these words: "Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you therefore to reaffirm your love for him." Written by KATH HENRY