Encouragement

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FORGIVENESS by Bob Pruitt November, 2010
Exactly what are we talking about when we speak of forgiveness? Are we talking about forgetting all the wrongs done to us or letting someone off the hook? Do we think of it as being unfair? Do we view it as an injustice? Webster's defines forgiveness as 'ceasing to feel resentment against an offender', 'pardon', 'to give up resentment of or claim to requital for insult or injury', 'to grant relief from payment of a debt'.
In God's Life Recovery program I believe that all of these are fitting and challenging to do. I would like to look at forgiveness, though, as the Bible would have us look at it. Let's try to examine what God has to say about the topic. In Psalm 32:1-5 we read "Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself "I will confess my rebellion to the Lord." And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone."
As it so states in these verses when we refuse to confess our sins, when we hold onto those feelings of resentment, when we harbor that rage and bitterness our bodies waste away. We get so caught up with those feelings of hatred, rage and bitterness that it builds a wall of separation between us and others and God. We have been wronged and we feel justified in our actions. Sometimes we hold onto these feelings because it makes us feel better about our bad attitudes to others and it shifts responsibility away from us and onto someone else. Some call it the blame game and it started with Adam and Eve. What we fail to realize is that forgiveness is really an act of self-interest. When we finally decide to forgive others there is a release from the bitter emotions of revenge. Then and only then can we receive that peace that we so desire.
When we come before God and confess all of our sins He forgives us ALL. Past, present and future. Not just the big things, but the little ones as well. Think about that for a moment. There is nothing that we have done and there is nothing that we will do that God has not and will not forgive if we bring it to Him and ask.
Next, I think we need to look at why forgiveness is so important to God and to us. In Ken Sande's book the Peacemaker he says that God relates to us as our Father, and that His parental forgiveness does depend on our forgiving others. When we become Christians, God adopts us into His family and treats us as His children. And how does a good parent treat a disobedient child? He doesn't kick the child out of the family! He may send a disobedient child to his or her room and isolate the child from the rest of the family until behavior changes. In some cases, the unrepentant child may also receive a spanking or be deprived of certain privileges. God treats us much the same way. He does not disown us or remove our salvation, but He does and will discipline us. So when we refuse to forgive others, we may suffer afflictions and feel cut off from a close and joyful relationship with God. Matthew 6:14-15 clearly states: "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." God will continue to discipline us until we repent of our sin and forgive others as He has forgiven us.
Jesus felt so strongly about forgiveness that He even talked about it in the Lord's prayer. In Luke 11:3-4 the prayer says "Give us each day the food we need and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." NLT
Once more, in Matthew 18:23-34 Jesus tells of the parable of the unforgiving debtor. In this story there was a kingdom and the king decided to bring all of his accounts up to date. One of the debtors owed the king a very great sum of money that in our day would amount to over a million dollars. The man could not pay the debt so the king ordered him to be sold along with his wife and children and everything he owned to pay off the debt. But the man fell down and begged the king to be patient with him and give him time and he would pay it all. The king felt pity for him and released him and forgave his debt. So when the man was leaving the king's court he happened to see a fellow servant that owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. The fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time, but the creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
When some of the other servants saw this they were upset and went to the king and told him everything that had happened.Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said "you evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you?" Then the king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.
Now, before you get upset with the messenger...this is what Jesus said! It is something that we must all think about. God wants us to learn how to forgive. It is not always easy and it is not always instant, but we must make the effort to learn how to do it.
Once we learn how to forgive, then we start to see the benefits of forgiving.
The first and most important thing we receive almost immediately is that feeling of relief. When we have given up that grudge or resentment or hatred there is a sense of a burden being lifted from our shoulders. Jesus wants us to give that burden to Him and let Him deal with it. Any shared load is always lighter and Jesus is always willing to carry the brunt of it for us.
With that sense of relief will also come peace of mind. When you have carried a load for any length of time the relief you feel will give way to a kind of peace you have never really known. You will look at things in a different kind of light. Then you will be able to feel joy and love as never before. In Proverbs 17:9 it states: "Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends."
We all need those feelings of being loved and loving others. When we harbor ill towards someone we are blocking love. If we want to love and feel love we need to forgive.
Finally we must remember what Jesus said to Peter when asked how many times should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times? and Jesus replied "No, not seven times but seventy times seven." Matthew 18:21-22 NLT
And if this should be our attitude towards others it should also be our attitude towards ourselves. We need to forgive ourselves as much as we forgive others. One might ask are we setting ourselves up to be god if He can forgive us, but we can't forgive ourselves or others?
Everytime we admit to God our sin and seek to accept His forgiveness we give our hope and faith a chance to grow. We do not have to hide in shame when we slip up or fall. God loves us and wants to forgive us so we can lead honest and productive lives. He wants to forgive us and who are we to deny Him that opportunity?

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