THE PASTOR’S
HEART
“Ho, every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and
eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without
price.”
Isaiah 55:
1
King James
Bible
I have shared
this with very few people because it is very embarrassing to me. I share it with you now so that you may
know how a pastor who really loves Jesus touched my heart and showed me the
meaning of unconditional love. Many
years ago, I wanted to buy my Mother a Bible to show her how much I loved
her. I knew that the greatest gift
you can give someone is Jesus.
I didn’t have
the money to buy her a Bible so I did something that was wrong and that I should
not have done because I knew it was wrong.
I walked into a Bible Book Store and stole that Bible so I could give it
to my Mother. I wanted to make my
Mother happy and this was my way of doing it.
Again, it was
wrong and I sinned. I am so glad
that we have a merciful and understanding Heavenly Father. Later that night when I went to bed I
couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned
because I knew what I did was wrong and I was so frightened that I would end up
in jail. I asked God to forgive me
and to give me the courage to take the Bible back and tell the owner of the
store what I had done.
The next day I
went back to the store and told the owner what I had done. I did not know that the owner was a
pastor of a church. He listened to
all I had to say and then he got tears in his eyes and told me that he forgave
me and that God had also forgiven me.
He said “Give the Bible to your mother with my blessings”.
This pastor had
a heart of love and it was evident that He not only believed what he preached,
but that he also put it into practice in his life. This pastor taught me the meaning of
unconditional love when he forgave me.
Isn’t this what the greatest Pastor of all does for us? Jesus, our Pastor, forgives us time and
time again when we hurt Him. When
He forgives us a peace floods our hearts again. He never holds it against us or reminds
us of it either.
There are times
when we tell people that we forgive them but the next time they do something to
hurt us, we remind them of what they did.
That is not real forgiveness.
When we forgive people, we are not to hold it against them any more. If we keep reminding them of their past
mistakes and the things that they did to hurt us, we have not forgiven them from
our hearts.
How is your
heart today? Is it filled with
unconditional love for your family, your friends and for a world that is hurting
and desperately needs to know that somebody cares if they live or die? God grant that we would have a heart
like this dear pastor and forgive people when they hurt us. We need to remember that nobody is
perfect. Jesus was the only perfect
person on this earth. We are simply
sinners saved by grace. Thank God
for our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Father,
we come to You just now and ask that You would please fill our hearts with
compassion and unconditional love for others just as You love us. May we be children who bring honor to
You. We ask that You search our
hearts and if there is anything in them that is displeasing to You, we ask that
You please forgive us. Thank You so
much for Your mercy, grace, understanding and unconditional love for us. Thank You for the gift of Your Son so
that we may have eternal life.
Amen.
Joanne Lowe
September 26, 2007
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