Open Your Eyes | The One in the Middle

Main Verse:

“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Matthew 6:14-15, NIV

Main Points:

1. Other people’s guilt and/or gifts are not who they are.

2. Seeing and following Jesus gives you two new abilities: the ability to see who you really are and the ability to see who others really are.

3. Christians forgive the person that the monster used to be.

4. We can’t get caught up on the little and petty things - we have much more important work to be focused on doing.

5. If we aren’t seeing others the way Jesus sees us, then we haven’t really seen Jesus.

Action Steps:

1. Remind yourself of who God is and who you are.

2. Ask God to help you see past the monsters in your life one at a time.

3. Take a new look.

4. Ask yourself: what needs to change in my thinking, saying, and/or doing?

 5. Obey whatever God says.

Questions:

1. How does Jesus show you how to see who others are?

2. How do you move beyond seeing yourself as the monster and start to see yourself the way Jesus sees you?

3. What does forgiveness look like as active and transformational obedience to Jesus? 

4. Can we truly be obedient to Jesus without learning to see others the way Jesus does?