READ: Matthew 18:21-35
“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;“ – 2 Corinthians 4:1
In the last interview of his life, Derek Prince was asked whether he had any regrets. He said his regret was that he had not forgiven the people who had hurt him as quickly as he should have. To have become a minister is to have received extra mercy from God. This mercy is over and above the grace that is shown the average person. “It is God himself, in his mercy, who has given us this wonderful work [of telling his Good News to others], and so we never give up” (2 Corinthians 4:1, Living Bible).
Pastors are turned into something else by wounds that are inflicted on them from outside. Somehow, God expects us to be even more forgiving. Perhaps the highest form of offence comes from spouses. Because marriage involves a physical and natural union, it is very prone to multiple carnal wounds. Every minister must be resolute and unflinching in his or her resolve to be permanently married.
Your reaction to something can kill you. In the medical field, asthma is a disease that reminds me of unforgiveness. Asthma is simply an overreaction to substances that irritate the lungs. In an attempt to keep out further irritants, the air ways constrict and breathing becomes difficult. Death happens when this reaction goes too far. Absalom overreacted to his brother’s crime. It is this continued, sustained reaction to evil that killed Absalom (2 Samuel 13:30-32;18:14-15).