Our Daily Bread: Character-Driven LeadershipNäide

The Soup

Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. -Ephesians 4:32

I used to work with a leader named Madge, who was an amazing cook. “You should taste my pea and ham soup!” she said one day. After replying that I really didn’t like peas, Madge smiled and said, “You will after you try my soup.” The next day she handed me a container of her soup, made especially for me.

“Did you try my soup?” Madge asked me a couple of days later. “I will—soon!” I said, hoping she wouldn’t ask me again. But she did—the next day, and the next. “Don’t leave it too long or it’ll spoil,” she added on the fourth day.

A week later, Madge’s uneaten soup had spoiled and I threw it away. I felt dread as she approached me. “You did try my soup, didn’t you?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “It was . . . delicious.”

In Ephesians 4, Paul calls us to deal with speech-related sins like controlling anger (V. 26), “foul or abusive language” (V. 29), and slander (V. 31). But before these comes a more basic call to “tell our neighbors the truth” (V. 25). I had looked at Madge and told her a lie. I knew what I needed to do.

I walked into Madge’s office, confessed my lie, and sheepishly asked for her forgiveness. Madge walked to me and gave me a hug. “Of course I forgive you,” she said. “How could I not, when I know how much God’s forgiven me?”

SHERIDAN VOYSEY

How many sinful words or actions has God forgiven you for? How as a leader can you forgive someone today, with the Holy Spirit’s strength?

Forgiving God, enable me to forgive others to the degree that You have forgiven me.