At my youth group, the assistant preacher for Chesmont Church of Christ spoke in front of us and gave a devotional on forgiveness. He started out by talking to us about how hard it is to forgive someone that wronged you. As a youth group we agreed that it depended on how much the person had wronged us on whether it was hard or not to forgive someone. After that he said that even though we might find it hard for us to forgive the person that wronged us, God would always forgive them if they came to Him. He focused on the fact that we focus on how bad the sin was and how much we were hurt but God forgives everyone that comes to Him period. If Adolf Hitler had came to God then He would have forgave him, when David had committed adultery and killed a man he came to God and God forgave him. The speaker keeps emphasizing his point throughout his entire speech and the way that rhetoric was neatly woven into this devo was by making the audience feel guilty so that they would be more willing to change. It is perfect pathos and then the speaker ends by saying that he knows not all of us are unable to forgive people when we are wronged but if we stay on the right path and keep forgiving people that wronged us than we will be forgiving by God Almighty. He closes with a strong statement and I believe he used great rhetoric and probably inspired many people in the youth group including myself to keep forgiving and not hold a grudge.
In Mr. Cline's class a few weeks ago. We took the day off in a way from our normal classes. Instead of continuing to read the books we were assigned and discussing them, he read us the sermon by C.S Lewis "The Weight of Glory." Its a long sermon, but one worth reading. It is about the confusion many people have on the topic of what we desire the most. He explains after much background information, that we all desire true happiness. And through that happiness, we long for heaven, our true home that we were designed for. He explains that glory is not what many people think of as being "famous" in heaven. But more that we are honored by our Lord and Father. For it to be like the scripture passage "Well done, good and faithful servant." C.S Lewis does a fantastic job at being persuasive here, and if read by the right person aloud, can have an excellent effect. He clears up lots of points that people bring up that are not true. Such as the point of glory...
It is important for us to forgive, this sermon is good by reminds us how we need always stay on the right track.
ReplyDelete