Wednesday 19 June 2013

That Big Word Called Forgive

Matthew 6:12-14
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
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.

Matthew 5:43-48
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his son to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

I will once again want to apologize for the intermittent breaks in my post, it due to the work done in trying to make my books meet up with Amazon requirements. I do really apologize and pray the Lord will help me balance my time. 
When I was trusting God to give me a word for today's post, what the Holy Spirit dropped in my spirit is the topic of forgiveness. In the passages above we will realize that as a child of God forgiveness is an issue that cannot be swept under the carpet. As a matter of fact one of the measure used in ascertaining your eligibility as a child of God is your ability to forgive and love not just those who love you, but also those who hate you.
I try to imagine a world filled with forgiveness, a world where no one holds a grudge against another, and I see heaven on earth. In that place where the throne of God is situated, there are no holding grudges, and there are no malice, and there is no hatred. It is a place of love, peace and abundance of forgiveness. 
In trying to cultivate heavenly traits here on earth, it is important to appreciate that in truth it is not as easy to forgive. When someone has offended you and is seeking forgiveness and is in fact remorseful and repentant, by human standard its understandable to forgive such. At that point forgiveness really would not take much effort.
But when the person you are required to forgive is someone who is not remorseful or repentant, and given the chance, will inflict as much pain on you as he/she has done before, and just to cut the story short, this person is in fact a known enemy, then to forgive such a person will be difficult. At this point, you will require grace and abundant grace from God to forgive such and have to keep forgiving such at the expense of your pains. But this is the forgiveness that Jesus speaks about in the passages above. Not the easy kind of forgiveness, but the tough one. The forgiveness that separates you from others. The forgiveness that comes with a reward because it actually requires an effort of grace to accomplish.The forgiveness that draws you closer to perfection just as your Father in heaven is perfect. That is the forgiveness that Jesus speaks about. 
The next thing that will come to mind is that in our walk with God, how can we get to the point where we can forgive those who hate us. Where like Stephen and our Lord Jesus Christ we can truthfully with a pure heart pray for those who persecute us. When I was faced with the need to forgive someone whom I know was my enemy and she didn't hide it, the first thing I did was to pray. I had to pray about the matter over a period of time because it truth forgiveness in the face of persecution really does require the grace of God.
One other thing that you need to understand is that God who is your Father is the Big Judge of all. He loves you too much to allow anyone inflict pains on you unjustly, so you need to understand that He will fight your course. He will avenge for you while you hold your peace. But in my own trying time the Holy Spirit gave me an illustration that really helped me through the issue of forgiveness and that I will like to share. 
Let's assume there are two people in conflict, one on the right side of the matter and the other one is the unjust bully. The person on the right side of the issue is really a quite easy going person, though she was continually being hurt by this unjust bully, she always makes effort to forgive and move on. She was always reporting all the hurt inflicted on her by the unjust bully to her father who in turn encourages her to forgive and move on. She never retaliated or paid back evil for evil. Her only consolation lies in the strength of her father's encouraging words. On the other hand, the unjust bully always sees the gentleness of his prey as a reason to go on bullying. It was easy for him to bully due to lack of confrontation or a fight-back. 
This went on until there was a need for the two to drag themselves to court. On appearing in court it was discovered that the father of the gentle prey who is the one on the right side of the issue is the presiding judge to handle the case. I am sure you will all agree with me that the case had ended even before it started. 
This illustration is just the case when we forgive. Our Father in heaven is the Judge of all and He says vengeance is His. He will handle the matter accordingly. Now we need to note that if the gentle prey had attempted to fight back she would have contaminated the case. She also would have been on the erring side no matter how little. But she was vindicated for her silence and forgiveness. And that is what God expects of us .

Romans 12:17-21
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge, I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary:
If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." 
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

I suppose this passages sums up a lot on the issue of forgiveness. It is important that we the children of God do not get our hands soiled with sin as we seek vengeance. Let us leave the matter to God and let Him judge as appropriate, bearing in mind that the most high Judge of all is your heavenly Father. 
Forgiveness is a virtue that comes with its reward as we can read in the book of Matthew 5:43-38. Forgiveness is what shows the world that indeed we are children of the most high God. Forgiveness is the prerequisite condition that we must fulfill in order to have our sins forgiven by God. There is no justification we can have before God to hold a grudge against anyone, not even our enemies. As children of God we need to always pray for grace to live above the sin of unforgiveness and walk in perfect love just like our Father in heaven.

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