Obedience and Being in God’s Will

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Now, if anyone has caused you pain, he has not caused it to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough. So you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he shall be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything.    2 Corinthians 2:5-9 (ESV

Paul writes to the Corinthian church. He tells them that, if someone brings hurt to them, that person causes injury to all of them.

He continues by telling them that the offender deserves forgiveness and comfort lest he becomes saddened. He pleads with them to reaffirm their faith in the one guilty of wrongdoing. Each of us, when we cause hurt to the LORD, can seek forgiveness and receive comfort from Him. When someone brings hurt to us, we are to extend forgiveness to that person. Sometimes we have to ask God to do it for us. But we must forgive because God will not forgive us if we don’t forgive others.

The Apostle Paul then explains the reason for his writing. He took the time to test the believers and to know if they were obedient in everything. Paul speaks of forgiveness and of obedience in this passage. We are to forgive the sinner because of God’s love for us and for them. Paul tells us Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13 –(NIV)

Our motive for extending forgiveness to someone who has sinned is that we want to be in God’s will and obey Him. I wonder, have I ever not been completely obedient to God? Due to being human, I probably have not always obeyed Him.