Jeff Keele | Waverly Church of Christ | Page 30 Jeff Keele | Waverly Church of Christ | Page 30

How many of us have been unwilling to forgive a person even one time when they sought our forgiveness? How many of us grudgingly forgave one time, but were unwilling to do so a second time? How many of us would have been willing to go Peter’s seven times, but set our limit there?
According to Mark 15:39, there was a centurion who was standing right in front of Jesus at the cross. When he saw the way Jesus took His last breath, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
The question for each of us is simple: To whom will you prove to be a neighbor? Will you be the hands of Jesus by being a messenger of His compassion to a world that is lost and in great need.
You and I still have the same choice before us today: a. Either, Jesus is a complete fraud, 1) If this is true, then you and I must avoid Him at all costs. b. Or, everything He said about Himself is true. 1) In which case He is the Son of God. 2) You and I have no other to whom we may turn for our salvation. Which will you decide?
God’s compassion is like that of a father for his children .“Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust” (Psalm 103:13-14).
Jesus told His brothers that His time differed from their time. They could come and go without any significance — for them any time was right. He, on the other hand, always pleased His Father, God, so His time movements were those that His Father desired.
How many signs would have been sufficient for them to believe? Jesus had already performed a number of miracles there in Capernaum (i.e. a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit (Mark 1), Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1), the sick and demon possessed (Mark 1), Centurion’s servant (Matt. 8)) What is necessary for us to believe?