Forgiving Others and the Favor of God

I understand that there’s a story about my childhood that’s circulating around the church. My mom, who’s 87, is living with us now in North Royalton. And she likes to tell the story about asking me to put clean sheets on my bed. Of course, I was a perfectly obedient child. So, I did it. Quickly, I might add. But after a while, she noticed that some of her sheets were missing. She put on her detective hat and found her sheets. See, she said, “Put these clean sheets on your bed. She didn’t say, “Take the dirty sheets off.” So I was putting clean sheets on top of dirty ones. Good kid? Bad kid? Smart kid? Does it help or hurt if you found out I was 18 when that happened? (Just kidding!)

We’re in a series on forgiveness. And moms have lots of reasons why they need to forgive kids. And kids have lots of reasons why they need to forgive moms. And when the forgiveness flows, the favor of God rests on the home.

I think one thing all moms have in common is a passion for their kids to experience favor. We want to shield our kids from pain and help our kids be favored.  We want our kids to be favored in school. We want our kids to be favored on their teams. We want our kids to be favored at work. We want our kids to be favored by God.

But how? How does it happen? How can you help your kids be favored?

In looking at the life of Joseph, a man who lost his mother at an early age and then experienced multiple hurts and hardships at the hands of his family, his boss, and his friends, we see that Joseph was forsaken, framed and forgotten. But instead of choosing bitterness, he chose forgiveness. As Pastor Chad Allen said, “He got rid of the taproot of bitterness by using the round-up of forgiveness.” Joseph is a man who had the favor of God on his life – what moms want for their kids. And that’s a good thing. Really good.

Consider these three verses about the favor of God.

Favor is better than silver or gold.
Proverbs 22:1b (ESV)

Show me a sign of your favor… because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Psalm 86:17 (ESV)

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands…

Psalm 90:17a (ESV)

Listen, you want the favor of God. The favor of God is better than money. When you have the favor of God, you have His help and His comfort. His favor means that you’ll leave a legacy – that you’re life will count, really count.

So, how do you get the favor of God? A quick look at the life of Joseph will teach us that forgivers find the favor of God.

Do you have the favor of God? Are you a forgiver?