#229: Benjamin's Letter - (Hope for a Tree Pt. 2)

My dearest,

I am glad that by the time you receive this letter, the assurance of my love would have been beyond any doubt in your mind. By this time, I am sure that what we share has reached a point where it cannot be broken carelessly or destroyed. Trust would have become the focus of who we are and who we wish to be. Love; our love forgives all things and is not boastful. Neither does it get angry or jealous. God is Love and God is the author of our Love. We have God between us.

And it is for this reason that I feel heavily impressed upon me to write to you. You must know that between you and me, there must be forgiveness. If I love you, I must forgive you. Now from the depths of my heart, I desire to love you as Christ loves the Church and if I did so then before I know you or what you've done, I promise under God that I forgive it all because I really do love you.

I must confess that your letter was a difficult read. I am writing to you, in response to your letter to share in the hope that you have in Christ. While I was very quick to judge you the moment I read your story, when I pondered upon the words of Rabbi Yeshua to you, a lot of things about my life became clear.

I don't judge because I'm a little crazy myself. What I mean is: no matter how wretched one is, I have no right to say anything because what God has delivered me from is a product of mercy as well. I too have been shown mercy and as an offspring of the Most High, the least I can do is to show mercy as well. (Eph 4v32). I forgive you, because I understand, and I can relate.

Permit me to share with you a little story.

I also had an encounter with the Rabbi. It was not a direct encounter though. One day, while searching the countryside with my brother for the perfect location for the Sukkot, we saw a large gathering, and out of curiosity, we drew closer. They were gathered to listen to the Rabbi. He told a story about forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-35). That was the first time I felt that the grace to forgive someone was a miracle. Now, having to forgive you, I believe God has performed a miracle in my heart.

I understand that all my life I never knew I could be at peace with God. Even though I knew the Torah and could recite the Ketuvim and Nevi’im, I still felt short of God’s love. My moral failure is not sexual immorality, but I knew I, a sinner nonetheless had to make peace with God. After hearing the Rabbi speak that day, I realized God's love in the forgiveness I felt within me for my iniquity. And it is for this that I know I must spread this Love of God by doing to others what was done for me. I was totally forgiven, graciously.

In your letter, you spoke about the grace that gives you the strength to live the new life without indulging in your old practices; I think, that same grace worked for me, but in a different way; it went ahead and saved me from the future possibilities of being sexually immoral. Even when I read your letter, in rage, I wanted to vent out with illicit sexual relations, but grace kept me still.

My message in this letter is to let you know that no matter how far you think you've gone, or how bad you think it may be, God is good, and you are Loved by Him and I both. Have no fear, for your pain is covered in my love and my mistakes in His Mercy.

So, my dearest Salome, can we continue building our future together? (Matt 1v19-25).

 

With the love of our Messiah before my own,

Benjamin.

Written by Precious Marcus

Today's Episode is dedicated to families and relationships that have been wrecked by infidelity, both past and present. May this letter reveal, by God's grace the biblical reality of forgiveness as a miracle to preserve the marriage/relationship. And may God breathe hope in us all, as we all share in the hope of our fallen brothers - that both for them, and their relationships, in Christ, there is hope for a tree if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease...Job 14:7-9

Shalom