From
Secure in the Everlasting Arms by Elisabeth Elliot
What is the true test? We can sing about it, talk about it, preach abut it, write poetry about it, pray about it. But Jesus spelled out the acid test: “If you love me, you will obey what I command. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me” (John 14:15 and 21). Obedience is the valid proof.
If my reaction to one who has done me wrong is less than a loving forgiveness, I simply cannot claim to love God. When we pray “Forgive us our trespasses as
we forgive those who trespass against
us” we are telling God that we will receive from Him exactly the measure of forgiveness which we have willingly offered to the trespasser. Will that be enough? Will that cover our trespasses against our Savior? No, it won’t, for Jesus said, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” This is the only petition in the Lord’s prayer with a condition added. We must be careful to honor that condition. Forgive me, Lord, as I have forgiven that person who has not asked for forgiveness, that person who has ruined my marriage or my business or my chance to succeed, that person who goes on blithely as though he had done nothing wrong and couldn’t care less. Will I erect a wall between him and me? Then I do the same to God. It’s the same wall. Therefore I cannot obtain forgiveness. We must admit guilt—rather than hide in “an aristocracy of self-righteousness.” To be a Christian means rising out of our guilt, and being transformed by God’s forgiveness.
Watchman Nee told the story of a Chinese farmer who, as soon as he became a believer, underwent a severe test to the validity of his faith. A daily task was to pump water by hand up the steep hillside. A neighbor breached the retaining bank and ran the farmer’s water onto his own garden. “It is not righteous!” said the farmer to the elders in the church. “What does a Christian do in such a case?” The elders knelt with him in prayer, then thought of Jesus’ words, “If someone takes your coat, give him your cloak also.” “If we do only the ‘right’ thing,” said the elders, “we are unprofitable servants. We must go beyond what is merely right.”
The next day the farmer went to work at his treadmill, pumping water for his neighbor’s two strips of wet land below. He then spent the afternoon laboriously pumping water for his own garden. The neighbor, of course, was dumfounded. He questioned the Christian, and it was not long before he too was drinking the Water of Life.
A lady who had heard this story said to me, “I know why God had me come here today. I’ve had years of contention with a neighbor who has been gradually encroaching on my property. I’ve been furious with him, and no amount of reason has helped the situation. Today I learned that I do not have to expect reason! I am going to deed to him the property he has appropriated. How simple! And what a relief!”
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (1 John 3:14). No need to remain in death—just let go of the bitterness.
“Oh, how many times we can most of us remember when we would gladly have made any compromise with our consciences, would gladly have made the most costly sacrifices to God, if He would only have excused us from this duty of loving, of which our nature seemed utterly incapable. It is far easier to feel kindly, to act kindly, toward those with whom we are seldom brought into contact, whose tempers and prejudices do not rub against ours, whose interests do not clash with ours, than to keep up an habitual, steady, self-sacrificing love towards those whose weaknesses and faults are always forcing themselves upon us, and are stirring up our own. A man may pass good muster as a philanthropist who makes but a poor master to his servants, or father to his children” (F.D. Maurice, 1805-1872, from Mary Wilder Tileston’s lovely devotional, Daily Strength for Daily Needs).
"Searcher of hearts, Thou knowest us better than we know ourselves, and seest the sins which our sinfulness hides from us. Yet even our own conscience beareth witness against us, that we often slumber on our appointed watch; that we walk not always lovingly with each other, and humbly with Thee; and we withhold that entire sacrifice of ourselves to Thy perfect will, without which we are not crucified with Christ or sharers in His redemption. O look upon our contrition, and lift up our weakness, and let the dayspring yet arise within our hearts, and bring us healing, strength, and joy. Day by day may we grow in faith, in self-denial, in charity in heavenly-mindedness. And then mingle us at last with the mighty host of Thy redeemed for evermore. Amen." (James MArtineau, born 1805)
