The first 5 verses are when Jesus appeared to the disciples, minus Thomas, the evening of his resurrection and He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." That confused us. If we refuse to forgive people, are their sins not forgiven? I think that what Christ did was make the disciples aware that they were to continue his work and that with the help of the Holy Spirit, by spreading the good news of forgiveness through Christ, all sins are forgiven and salvation is available to all. If we are Spirit filled and Spirit led, we will be filled with Christ's love for all and like Him, will forgive the sins of all so that they may be saved. Not forgiving is not loving and that is contrary to the Holy Spirit. The Grace of God lives within each Christian in His Spirit, loving, caring, and forgiving.
The following 8 verses revealed doubting Thomas and I believe reveals how difficult, yet vital it is to truly believe. We agreed that we are all like Thomas to some degree. We believe, yet we put limits on our belief. Christ says that we must die to ourselves, which means that we need to surrender our ways of thinking, our plans, our desires, and our fears so that our trust and faith in Jesus reflect our belief in Him. Our lack of faith is lack of belief. Our lack of trust, is a lack of belief. Our worrying about what others may think is a lack of belief. Jesus knows how hard it is to believe, therefore, just like he did with Thomas, He will show Himself to each one of us personally. He will help us overcome our disbelief. Jesus, our Savior, loves us individually and will touch us all in ways that will draw us closer to Him. What Jesus did during these encounters with His apostles was equip them to go out, filled with the Holy Spirit, to love and offer salvation through Him. We introduce Jesus to unbelievers so that when He touches them, they will recognize Him and receive the forgiveness He offers.
Discover and Proclaim the Truth of The Bible which is: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life." (John 3:16 NRSV). Jesus came to humanity to proclaim and give evidence to that love and He has commanded us to do the same. We, who believe, must not merely be followers, but we must be proclaimers of the Gospel Message and we can only do that by being filled with the love of God.
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