Forgiveness

This is the third and final segment of the three part series on Love, Anger, and Forgiveness

I think most Christians have heard and given some thought to the subject of forgiveness. At least the forgiveness in which we received from Christ Jesus by His atonement for our sins.

But forgiveness requires much more thought and effort than most give credence to. As Christians we are supposed to be Christ like to the best of our ability and that means we must be forgiving people.

This is far deeper than many give time to understand. Have you ever prayed this prayer? “Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever and ever.” We call this the Lord’s Prayer, and for this writing I will focus on the highlighted segment.

In this prayer we are earnestly asking God to forgive us the same way we forgive others!  If you have prayed the Lord’s Prayer this should strike great fear in your heart! You have prayed that you be held to the same standards by the Lord as you exhibit towards forgiving others. That is, the speed of forgiving, the depth of forgiveness, and the spirit behind your forgiveness!

Even in the Christian community there seems to be a huge lack of understanding of what forgiveness even is! We expect a lack of understanding in the secular world, but as Christian’s we should have a firm grasp on the subject of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is as much, or more so, a benefit to the one forgiving as it is the one being forgiven. Forgiving does not mean you must forget (I can only speak of my own experience.) I guess over time that may be possible as long as you are never reminded of the situation.

In general though, forgiveness has nothing to do with forgetting, it means to excuse the offender for their offense. There are instances where it is easier to forgive a person and walk away, never to be involved with them again, but there are times such as with family or friends that a continued interaction is required. These situations will test your ability to truly forgive.

In most circumstances there isn’t really much to forgive if the time to consider the situation is taken. Consider this example- maybe a friend or loved one was in a bad mood and snapped at you, or even worse.

Sure, it probably hurt your feelings or you felt it was completely uncalled for. But do you hold it against them, refusing to realize you had probably done the same thing in your life or at least you didn’t consider what may be going on with them at the time they hurt you.

Many times those close to us don’t realize what damage they may have done, but you sulk or get angry at them, torturing yourself and planning a way to make them pay for what they did. (Boy, does that attitude turn things around in a hurry!) When those thoughts occupy your mind, your mind has strayed as far from God’s will as the east is from the west!

Maybe, and this is the hardest, you have a family member that has wronged you many times and just refuses to change in any permanent sense.

What do you do with that type of situation? You forgive them! Not just for their sake, but for yours! If you can forgive them it will be as if a giant weight has been lifted from your shoulders. Y

our attitude and demeanor will change and you won’t dwell on the pain and anger you have suffered. (I’ve been there!) Matthew 7:5 calls us a hypocrite and directs us to remove the log from our own eye before we remove the speck from our brother’s eye.

Remember when they were going to stone the prostitute and Jesus came and wrote something in the sand and spoke to her accusers and said “let ye that hath not sinned cast the first stone”. If I'm not innocent (and none of us are), then I have no right to condemn anyone for anything! When you feel that something must be done about something, then you can ask that the Lord consider the situation and that must be as far as it goes.

We must move on! If we are always fretting and being aggravated about a wrong, we are doing nothing more than willingly surrendering to the trap Satan has laid before us! Recently I was driving and a person in a car pulled out in front of me, I had to get on the brakes pretty hard to avoid an accident.

I didn’t honk or get angry or curse, what came out of my mouth pleased me. Without thinking, I said well, you didn’t do anything I haven’t mistakenly done before myself.

Few people would pull in front of a large truck in a small car on purpose!  But it really didn’t faze me at all. I realized I had won a victory and gained a lot of maturity in my walk with God. (part of the New Creature realization). It would have been of no benefit at all if I had gotten angry, it would have just driven up my blood pressure, started my day off on a sour note, and given the adversary a victory. We never ever gain from not forgiving, but we gain great riches in forgiving!

We must always think and consider others and our own faults before we focus on the faults of others. In this we can exhibit one of the traits of Christ Jesus!

In closing, we must understand, without Love we cannot forgive, without forgiveness we will be angry, if we are angry we cannot love.

Dear Father, I ask in the name of my Lord Jesus that all who read this find forgiveness in their hearts and their spirits be filled with love so strongly that anger would flee far from their minds!

I ask this in the name of my savior Jesus, for the Glory of your name’s sake, and in the name of the Holy Spirit……..Amen

Kenneth Kellar
A Man Called by God to Teach and Disciple