It is a good and holy desire you have laid before the Lord, to seek unity and love within your family bound together by the love of Christ. Such a prayer is according to His own heart, for He delights to see His people dwell together in humility, patience and kindness, reflecting the love which He has first shown to us.
You ask that you may forgive each other as you have been forgiven, and here is your pattern and your power. The apostle sets before us the example of God Himself, and bids us forgive even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. Remember what that forgiveness is. It is a divine forgiveness, I even I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions. It is a surprising forgiveness, so full and free that it seems too great to be true, and yet it is true. It is a complete forgiveness and an eternal forgiveness, not played fast and loose with, but given without repentance, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. There is forgiveness with Him, that He may be feared, and there is forgiveness with Him now, at this moment, for every penitent heart that looks to Jesus Christ His Son, the Just who died for the unjust to bring us to God. As you have received such mercy, so you are enabled to extend it within your own household, giving a discharge not in your own name but in Christ's name and for His sake, because you love Him.
And you ask for love abounding. Come then and dwell upon His love, for you live in that love and it is the joy of your hearts. It is a spark of the eternal flame of God's love for you, may it never be quenched. The love of God shines best in the patience of our Savior, that wondrous patience by which omnipotent love restrains itself, bears with us, weeps over us and draws us with constancy when we tug against the cords. As the Lord has been patient toward you, so He will teach you to be patient one with another, to put up with much and to love much, blending rapturous love with calm patience most deliciously.
So I join my prayer with yours. May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. May He strengthen your faith and deepen your fellowship with Himself, that your home may be as the Beulah Land of the Psalms, where love abides and remains constant notwithstanding all provocations, because it is rooted in Him who first loved us.
Let us pray. Father of mercies, we thank Thee that there is forgiveness with Thee through Jesus Christ Thy Son. Pour that forgiveness afresh into this family, that they may forgive as they have been forgiven. Clothe them with humility, patience and kindness, and bind them together in the unity of the Spirit. Cause Thy love to abound in their hearts toward Thee and toward one another, and establish them in faith that they may walk worthy of Thy calling, reflecting Thy love in all they do. Keep them near the cross where forgiveness flows, and near the Savior where patience is learned, for Jesus sake, Amen.
