Connected in The Word 10-2-25
“Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Luke 17:3-4
What does rebuking look like? Imagine for just a moment that you are watching someone rebuke another person. However, I want you to pretend that you can’t understand the words being spoken – Pretend the people are speaking a language you don’t understand. You can hear the tone and volume of their voices and see their body language and facial expressions but not actually understand the words. Take a moment to picture that scene in your mind. Got it? Good!
Now I want you to do the exact same thing, but this time imagine you are watching someone forgive another person. You can’t understand the words, but you can hear them, and you can see body language and facial expressions. What does forgiving look like? Take a moment to picture that scene in your mind. Got it? Good!
You should now have two scenes in your mind – A Rebuking Scene and A Forgiving Scene! Again, you can’t understand the words, but you can hear them, and you can see everything that is happening. What I say next might sound shocking (although I’m guessing some of you already know where I’m going with this). I truly believe that if we are to rebuke and forgive the way that Jesus calls us to rebuke and forgive – THE TWO SCENES IN OUR MIND SHOULD LOOK AND SOUND IDENTICAL! The actual words spoken might be different (and should be different), but the volume and tone of those words as well as the body language and facial expressions should be the same. We rebuke and forgive people we KNOW & LOVE!
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