Do you truly forgive? In an attempt to change my life and hopefully the lives of my husband and children by being a better wife and mother, I started reading my Bible, praying, trying to make it to church and trying to treat people better. Its been a day to day struggle. Some days I fail miserably and other days I do alright. There are two Biblical principles that trip me up on an almost daily basis, 1. to love people 2. to forgive as Christ forgives. Today I read Mathew 18 and one of the last parables in that chapter is about the unforgiving debtor. The story starts when Jesuss disciples ask Him about forgiveness. Jesus uses a story to explain how God expects us to forgive. A rich master had many servants and on the day that these servants had to settle their debts with their master, one servant was brought before the master in serious debt. The law stated that if he couldnt pay up then both him and his family were to be sold in order to pay off the debt. The servant knowing this, begged his master for mercy. The master took pity on him and completely erased his debt. The servant was a free man! Upon leaving the masters house, this servant ran into a fellow servant who owed him some money. The first servant grabbed the second servant and demanded payment. The second servant begged for forgiveness and patience just like the first servant had done with the master. But instead of forgiving this man like he was just forgiven, the first servant had the second servant thrown in prison until he could pay the entire debt. Some of the other servants witnessed this ordeal and told the master. The master was outraged and called in the first servant. The master said How dare you do that to a fellow servant! When you were forgiven all of your debts, but refused to show the mercy that I showed you. The master then threw the first servant into prison and ordered them to torture him until he could repay the entire debt. Yikes! Forgiveness is not something that God takes lightly. Its not a simple suggestion, its a command for Christians. It has serious consequences if we dont forgive others like we were forgiven. I cant speak for everyone but I know that I have been forgiven for wrongs that are far worse than any wrongs another person has inflicted on me. Who am I to deny someone the forgiveness that has been so freely given to me? There is no justification but that doesnt make it easy. The thing about forgiveness that we seem to forget is that it isnt just a phrase I forgive you. You have to actually change your heart in regards to that person. When God forgave us, He didnt remember our sins in order to bring them up again at a later date if He needed to use them against us. He changed His heart towards us and completely erased our sins like they were never even there. That is the kind of forgiveness we are expected to pass on. Its the kind that is impossible for humans to give. In order to forgive like God forgives, we need to ask Him to help us forgive. I know many good Christians who struggle just like I do with forgiveness. We say that we forgive someone but still hold bitterness in our hearts for them. If something bad happened to that person, we would probably feel a second of self righteous vindication that they had gotten what they deserved. Is that forgiveness? Not according to the Bible. Remember we all deserve hell and we are so lucky we dont get what we deserve. If you still hold bitterness then you havent forgiven. If you occasionally make snide remarks about that person then you havent forgiven. When you can look at that person and not see them for what they did to you but rather as a person who deserves love, then you know that you have forgiven them. I am talking to myself here. I want to truly forgive people, if for no other reason than to free myself from the negativity that comes with holding a grudge. This is the kind of forgiveness I aspire to have, I cant settle with simply saying the words, but rather I need to pray to have my heart changed in regards to these people. There is nothing to be lost by giving someone complete forgiveness but there is so much to be gained. Today I want to bless my own heart and someone elses by forgiving them the true way.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 13:59:32 +0000
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