Fight Like the Forgiven

Satan wants to turn our wounds into weapons, but the gospel teaches us to fight differently. From Ephesians 4:31–32, we will see how bitterness destroys community and how kindness, compassion, and forgiveness reveal the heart of those who have been forgiven by God in Christ.

Scripture: Ephesians 4.31-32

(Additional Reading: Deuteronomy 29.18; Mt.18.21-35)

Warm-Up:

Which is harder: letting go of what someone did to you, or treating them with kindness afterward?

“In the same way I could say of a certain man, ‘have I forgiven him for what he did that day? I’ve forgiven him more times than I can count.’ For we find that the work of forgiveness has to be done over and over again. We forgive, we mortify our resentment; a week later some chain of thought carries us back to the original offense and we discover the old resentment blazing way as if nothing had been done about it at all. We need to forgive our brother seventy times seven not only for 490 offenses but for one offense.”

- C.S. Lewis -